A daughter of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has taken refuge in the Saudi embassy in Tehran after eluding guards who have held her, her sister and four brothers under house arrest for eight years, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported on Wednesday.
It has long been believed that Iran has held in custody a number of bin Laden’s children since they fled Afghanistan following the US-led invasion of that country in 2001 — most notably Saad and Hamza bin Laden, who are thought to have held positions in al-Qaeda.
This year, US officials said Saad bin Laden may have been killed by a US airstrike in Pakistan, where they said he might have fled after being freed from Iran, but they could not confirm the information.
But Omar bin Laden, another son who lives abroad, told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that Eman told relatives in a telephone call from the embassy that 29-year-old Saad and four other brothers were still being held in Iran.
Attempts by to reach Omar were not immediately returned, and there was no comment from Iranian or Saudi officials.
Asharq Al-Awsat said the 17-year-old daughter, Eman, slipped away from guards and fled to the Saudi embassy nearly a month ago.
The embassy’s charge d’affaires, Fouad al-Qassas, confirmed to the paper that she has been at the mission for 25 days and that there were diplomatic efforts with the Iranians to get her out of the country.
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