Iran 'lets al-Qaeda roam free'

IRAN is permitting around 25 high-ranking al-Qaeda members to roam free in the country's capital, including three sons of Osama bin Laden, a German monthly magazine reports.

Citing information from unnamed Western intelligence sources, the magazine Cicero said in a preview of an article appearing in its November edition that the individuals in question are from Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Europe.

They are living in houses belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the report said.

"This is not incarceration or house arrest," a Western intelligence agent was quoted as saying.

The three sons of Osama bin Laden in Iran are Saeed, Mohammad and Othman, Cicero reported.

Another person enjoying the support of the Revolutionary Guards is al-Qaeda spokesman Abu Ghaib, the report said.

Iran first said late last year that it had arrested and would try a number of foreigners suspected of having links to al-Qaeda, a loose network of military groups that Washington blames for the attacks of September 11, 2001 and bomb attacks in Spain, Indonesia, Egypt and elsewhere.

The report in Cicero also accused the Revolutionary Guards' secret service of offering logistical support and military training to senior al-Qaeda leaders.

Britain and the United States suspect Iran of supporting insurgents in Iraq, a charge Tehran has vehemently denied.

Iran sheltering Bin Laden sons and Al-Qaeda members: report
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BERLIN (AFP) - Iran is providing refuge to around 25 leading members of the Al-Qaeda terror group including three of Osama bin Laden's sons, a German magazine reported.

Iran is providing refuge to around 25 leading members of the Al-Qaeda terror group including three of Osama bin Laden's sons, a German magazine reported.

Cicero magazine said Saad, Mohammed and Othman bin Laden as well as other Al-Qaeda members from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, north Africa and Europe were living in and around Tehran under the protection of Iran's Republican Guard.

The magazine quoted a "top-ranking Western secret service agent" as saying the Al-Qaeda members were free to move around.

"They are not under arrest or house arrest," the unnamed source told the respected monthly Cicero. "They can do what they like."

Saad bin Laden, who is around 25, is thought to have played a key financial and logistical role in several Al-Qaeda attacks and is on a US most-wanted list.

Osama bin Laden is believed to have more than 20 sons by several wives.

The article was written by journalist Bruno Schirra.

Cicero and Schirra made national headlines in Germany last month when police raided the magazine's offices and Schirra's Berlin home after he wrote a story alleging links between Iran and Al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The police were searching for evidence to identify Schirra's sources after he quoted classified German documents in that story.

Interior Minister Otto Schily was forced to appear before a parliamentary committee to explain his order to carry out the raid.

Cicero was launched in March 2004 and describes itself as a "magazine of political culture".

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