Iran rejects U.S. demand to extradite al-Qaida operatives

AP/The Jerusalem Post ^ | 28 October 2003 | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[anotherview]

Oct. 28, 2003
Iran rejects U.S. demand to extradite al-Qaida operatives
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran rejected a U.S. demand to hand over senior al-Qaida operatives in its custody, Tuesday, saying the terror suspects would stand trial in Iranian courts, state-run radio reported.

A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted that senior al-Qaida operatives held by Iran should be turned over to their countries of origin or to the United States for interrogation and trial.

"Al-Qaida operatives currently in (our) custody have committed crimes in Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted by the radio as saying. "They will be tried in Iranian courts and will be punished on the basis of the laws of the country." He said Iran would not reveal the number and names of al-Qaida suspects in custody for security reasons.

American counter-terrorism officials said last week that a handful of senior al-Qaida operatives who fled to Iran after the war in Afghanistan two years ago may have developed a working relationship with a secretive military unit linked to Iran's religious hard-liners.

U.S. intelligence suggests that al-Qaida figures in Iran include Saif al-Adl, a top al-Qaida agent possibly connected to May bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Abu Mohammed al-Masri, wanted in connection with the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998; Abu Musab Zarqawi, whom some U.S. officials describe as the key link between al-Qaida and toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein; and Osama bin Laden's eldest son, Saad.

The al-Qaida operatives are believed to have fled to Iran from neighboring Afghanistan during the Taliban's fall in late 2001 or early 2002.

[mrobison]

Didn't the Taliban try this just before we went into Afghanistan and cleaned house?

[vollmond]

Hey mullahs, it's been nice knowing you. Good move, what with 60% of your own population wanting you dead.

[cpdiii]

Most of the Iranians are pro west and at the same time afraid of the theocracy that rules Iran. The Mullahs worse nightmare is an insurgency against them by their own citizens. This is what Ronald Regan did with Nicaragua. Not one American life was lost. He simply armed the freedom fighters also known as the Contras. The Mullahs have nightmares about this.

[Zipporah]

..now why doesn't this surprise me?

[aynrandfreak]

To quote Burgess Meredith from Rocky II, "What are we waitin' for?"

[Frunabulax]

Uh oh. Powell must have forgotten to add sugar on top of his pretty please.

[observer5]

Bomb them now for one week!