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Harbi was being "held" by the IRGC
A suspected Saudi al Qaeda militant who said he returned from Iran under a state amnesty was handed over by Tehran after a request from Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper said Wednesday. In a report citing a source in the Iranian presidency, the newspaper said Khaled al-Harbi, who was held by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, was told two weeks ago that he would be sent back to Saudi Arabia. Saudi and Iranian officials -- and Harbi himself -- said on Tuesday he took advantage of a Saudi amnesty announced on June 23. Saudi Arabia said he had been in the Iran-Afghan border region when he contacted the Saudi embassy in Iran to surrender.

But Asharq Al-Awsat said Harbi’s return to Saudi Arabia followed a recent trip to Tehran by Saudi justice officials, after which Iran’s Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi passed on a request to President Mohammad Khatami for the handover of al Qaeda suspects to Saudi Arabia. "Khaled al-Harbi was informed of the Iranian decision to hand him over two weeks ago," the newspaper said. "He was taken from one of the (Revolutionary) Guard villas north of Tehran to a safe place near the city of Qom. The Iranian authorities gave him the choice of surrendering voluntarily to the Saudi embassy or being sent back to Riyadh. Harbi chose, according to the Iranian official, to present himself at the embassy."

Khatami Wednesday denied he had received any request from Saudi authorities to hand over Harbi. "I hope one day I receive that letter," he told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "As far as I know, an Arab person who came from abroad agreed with the Saudis to be returned to his country and that is all that I know," he added. Government officials in Tehran privately acknowledge they fear reprisals by al Qaeda and a loss of standing in the Islamic world if Iran is seen to be cooperating too actively in the fight against Osama bin Laden’s group. An Arab diplomat in Tehran said he believed Harbi’s return was "clearly related to the Saudi judiciary visit last month." "We’re looking for more gestures like this from Iran which I think would be in their own best interests," he said. Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal said in January that under a security agreement, Iran had promised to hand over any Saudi in its custody but added Riyadh did not know how many of its nationals were being held by Iranian authorities.
Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-07-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=38023