Iran is close to putting on trial a group of al Qaeda members it suspects of plotting terrorist activities inside the country, a senior official said Wednesday. Hossein Mousavian, secretary of the foreign policy committee of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, described the suspects as middle-ranking al Qaeda members and said they were still being questioned in jail.
He told reporters in Vienna, where he is heading Iran’s delegation to talks at the U.N. nuclear agency, that the alleged militants had been "plotting against the national security of Iran and they have planned for terrorist activities inside Iran." Asked why Iran was taking so long to try them, he said: "I think we are getting close to a trial...The process is going on. First of all I think the process of questioning should be finalized." Asked if Iran was holding Adel, Mousavian refused to answer directly but added, laughing: "This is not, definitely, (Osama) bin Laden or Mullah Omar" -- a reference to the fugitive al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Iran’s foreign minister first said in January that Iran was holding about a dozen al Qaeda suspects and planned to try them. The United States demanded at the time that Tehran hand over the suspects to their countries of origin. Mousavian said such a handover was possible, but only after a trial. "It depends on the result of the trial...If and when Iran decides to deliver, they will deliver to their own countries, not to the United States," he said. |