In the wake of Osama bin Laden's demise, is al Qaeda falling apart?
The Saudi Interior Ministry said today that a senior al Qaeda member on Riyadh's most-wanted list named Khaled al-Qahtani called from abroad and turned himself in.
"Interior Ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said in a statement Wednesday that Khaled Hathal Abdullah al-Atifi al-Qahtani contacted the security authorities from an undisclosed country and expressed his wish to come home," the Associated Press reports.
"Al-Qahtani was reunited with his family and his surrender will be taken into consideration while looking into his case, Al-Turki said."
The Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman did not indicate when Khaled al-Qahtani gave himself up, but many members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have recently fled from Yemen, the AP writes.
It wasn't immediately possible to ascertain whether Khaled Al-Qahtani is the brother of Mohammed al-Qahtani (pictured at right), a Saudi-born al Qaeda militant detained at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba after being picked up in the battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan from which bin Laden is believed to have escaped. Mohammed al-Qahtani, 32, was reportedly subjected to severe U.S. torture at the facility, the senior official in charge of the U.S. office of military commissions told the Washington Post's Bob Woodward.
Of note is that Mohammed al-Qahtani flew to Orlando, Florida from Dubai in August 2001, a month before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but was sent back to Dubai by U.S. immigration authorities dubious about whether he intended to be an illegal immigrant to the country. U.S. interrogators later said they found airport video surveillance showing the car of lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta waiting to pick al-Qahtani up at the Orlando airport.
But the United States dropped charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani in May 2008, for reasons it did not disclose, but presumably related to the inadmissability of evidence obtained under torture. Al-Qahtani is still detained at Gitmo, but his habeas corpus case was reinstated after a Supreme Court ruling in 2008.
(Photo: Wikipedia)
The Saudi Interior Ministry said today that a senior al Qaeda member on Riyadh's most-wanted list named Khaled al-Qahtani called from abroad and turned himself in.
"Interior Ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said in a statement Wednesday that Khaled Hathal Abdullah al-Atifi al-Qahtani contacted the security authorities from an undisclosed country and expressed his wish to come home," the Associated Press reports.
"Al-Qahtani was reunited with his family and his surrender will be taken into consideration while looking into his case, Al-Turki said."
The Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman did not indicate when Khaled al-Qahtani gave himself up, but many members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have recently fled from Yemen, the AP writes.
It wasn't immediately possible to ascertain whether Khaled Al-Qahtani is the brother of Mohammed al-Qahtani (pictured at right), a Saudi-born al Qaeda militant detained at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba after being picked up in the battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan from which bin Laden is believed to have escaped. Mohammed al-Qahtani, 32, was reportedly subjected to severe U.S. torture at the facility, the senior official in charge of the U.S. office of military commissions told the Washington Post's Bob Woodward.Of note is that Mohammed al-Qahtani flew to Orlando, Florida from Dubai in August 2001, a month before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but was sent back to Dubai by U.S. immigration authorities dubious about whether he intended to be an illegal immigrant to the country. U.S. interrogators later said they found airport video surveillance showing the car of lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta waiting to pick al-Qahtani up at the Orlando airport.
But the United States dropped charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani in May 2008, for reasons it did not disclose, but presumably related to the inadmissability of evidence obtained under torture. Al-Qahtani is still detained at Gitmo, but his habeas corpus case was reinstated after a Supreme Court ruling in 2008.
(Photo: Wikipedia)
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten