Bin Laden’s son in Damascus after eight years in Iran

DAMASCUS - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s youngest son arrived in Damascus last month after spending eight years in Iran, the regional daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Wednesday.

Omar bin Laden told the London-based daily that his 16-year-old brother, Bakr, arrived in Damascus on Christmas Eve.

“It was a joyful moment for the family … but the joy will not be complete until all my siblings arrive safely from the Iranian capital,” Omar was quoted as saying.

Omar also said that he had applied for a visa to enter Tehran with his British-born wife and his mother, Najwa al-Ghanem, Bin Laden’s first wife, 10 days ago.

Bakr, as well as his four brothers and sister Iman, as well as another of their father’s wives, a woman identified only as Umm Hamza, had been held in Iran since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that the Saudi and Iranian governments were in talks to allow bin Laden’s daughter to leave Iran.

Iman had been at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran for a month and had asked to be allowed to leave the country, al-Faisal said. Iranian authorities said they would have to verify her identity first.

“We are ready to prove to the Iranians that these are sons of Osama Bin Laden,” al-Sharq al-Awsat quoted Omar as saying. “We also want to prove our good intentions. We will take my siblings to any place they want to go to outside Iran.”