Riyadh: The youngest son of al-Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden left Iran in late December and is now
in Damascus, the Saudi-controlled newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat
reported on Wednesday.
Bakr bin Laden had spent the last eight of his 16
years in Iran before being allowed to leave to Syria, the
London-based newspaper said, citing Omar bin Laden, another
son of the world's most wanted man.
In Damascus he was reunited on December 25 with his
Syrian mother Najwa al-Ghanem, one of Osama bin Laden's wives,
Omar said.
"My brother Bakr arrived from Tehran on Christmas
day, bringing joy to the family and ending the tears of our
mother," Omar, 29, was quoted as saying.
"But our joy will not be complete until the other
members of the family are able to leave Tehran safely and
soundly," said Omar, who lives in Qatar.
There was no news on the fate of the rest of the
family held under house arrest in Tehran, with one bin Laden
daughter, Iman, 17, now in the Saudi embassy there seeking to
leave for her father's native Saudi Arabia.
On Saturday Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud
al-Faisal said Riyadh was negotiating her departure with
Tehran, stressing that it was a "humanitarian" issue and not
political.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 06, 2010, 18:30