The son, Omar bin Laden, broke with his father, the leader of Al Qaeda, before the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and on the Pentagon and now lives in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He said that his sister Iman, 19, walked away during a shopping trip in Tehran about a month ago and made her way to the Saudi Embassy, hoping to be reunited with her mother, who lives in Syria.
Omar bin Laden and his wife, Zaina, who is British, said in the interview that at least six of Osama bin Laden’s children and one of his wives live in a comfortable compound in Tehran with other relatives, for a total of about 30 family members there. The couple denied that their relatives were under house arrest, as has been widely reported, but acknowledged that Iranian security personnel accompanied them when they left the compound.
In addition to Iman bin Laden, they identified Mr. bin Laden’s children living in the Tehran compound as Osman, Mohammed, Fatima, Hazma and Bakr.
The status of another son, Saad, remained uncertain. American officials said last summer that they believed that Saad bin Laden had traveled from Iran to Pakistan and had been killed by an American missile fired from a drone. Omar and Zaina bin Laden said Saad was still in the Tehran compound when the missile attack was said to have occurred, but they said that they did not know where he was now or whether he was still alive.
The presence of some of Osama bin Laden’s family in Iran was previously known, but the report of Iman’s seeking refuge in the Saudi Embassy added to the picture of their ambiguous status in Tehran. By several accounts, the bin Laden relatives left Afghanistan shortly before the 9/11 attacks, and were detained in Iran as they tried to get home to Saudi Arabia.
In Iran, whose relations with Saudi Arabia are tense, the relatives appear to be not exactly prisoners, but not quite guests. Omar and Zaina bin Laden said the bin Ladens in Tehran had been treated well but had no official documents to permit them to leave the country.
Steve Coll, author of “The bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century,” said the news from Tehran “provides the first open evidence of the circumstances under which bin Laden family members have been living in Iran” and “confirms that the Iranians have attempted to keep them under some kind of control.”
Several Qaeda operatives, including Saif al-Adel, have been reported to be in Iran under house arrest or similar status, and they are suspected of having played a role in directing Qaeda attacks in Saudi Arabia in 2003.
In a statement announcing financial sanctions in January against Saad bin Laden and three people accused of being Qaeda operatives in Iran, the Treasury Department said that he had been “involved in managing the terrorist organization from Iran.” But an American intelligence official said Wednesday that Saad bin Laden played a minor role in the organization.
Omar and Zaina bin Laden said they had spoken with Osman, 26, and he had told them he believed that Iran would eventually permit the family members to leave the country. They said the 30 relatives in Tehran included about 11 grandchildren, born since the family fled Afghanistan.
“People are beginning to realize these children are innocent victims of 9/11,” Zaina bin Laden said.
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