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Al-Qaeda pawn in Iran's
hands
By Hooman Peimani
After some weeks of speculation,
Kuwait acknowledged last Thursday that a high-ranking
al-Qaeda official of Kuwaiti origin was in Iran's
custody and that the Iranian government had offered to
extradite him to Kuwait. Kuwait's reported turning down
the offer has put Tehran in a peculiar situation as its
estranged ties with Washington depend to a large degree
on the course of action it takes with respect to the
unwanted al-Qaeda member. I
n his last week's
interview with Saudi newspaper Okaz, Kuwaiti Interior
Minister Sheikh Nawaf al-Sabah acknowledged the offer
and based his government's refusal to receive Abu Ghaith
on the grounds of his loss of Kuwaiti citizenship. The
Kuwaiti government had stripped him of his citizenship
in October 2001 for his ties with al-Qaeda in the wake
of the September 11 attacks. Sheikh Nawaf therefore
concluded, "Kuwait rejects the handover of this person."
Known as a spokesman for al-Qaeda, Abu Ghaith has
appeared on the terror group's released videotapes to
its objectives and operations. Reportedly, Abu Ghaith,
in his mid-30s, emerged as an anti-Iraqi political
activist during the few months of the Iraqi occupation
of Kuwait in late 1990. However, his continued political
activities against the Kuwaiti government resulted in
the latter's imposition of restrictions on his
activities when the Iraqi occupation ended in early
1991. The former religious teacher is believed to have
left Kuwait at an unknown time prior to the September 11
attacks.
It is not known when the Iranian
government arrested Abu Ghaith. The American military
campaign has forced some al-Qaeda members to leave
Afghanistan for their countries of origin, mainly Arab
nations, and to a lesser extent China, Russia and
Southeast Asian countries.
On their way, they
have had to pass through neighboring countries,
including Pakistan and Iran. Last year, the Iranian
government extradited to a number of Arab and European
countries over 500 al-Qaeda suspects whom it had
arrested as they crossed the Afghan-Iranian border. And
in June the government announced that it had
interrogated an unspecified number of al-Qaeda suspects
whose identities were unknown to it. Once their
identities were established, according to the Iranian
government, they would be extradited to their respective
countries, unless they had committed crimes in Iran. In
that case, they would be tried there.
Abu
Ghaith's loss of Kuwaiti citizenship is surely a
technical reason for the Kuwaitis' refusal to have his
custody, but they probably have at least two more
important reasons for their behavior. One could be the
Kuwaiti government's concern about prosecuting an
influential al-Qaeda member, which would likely turn its
country into a target of the group's subversive
activities. Despite its drawing membership from almost
all the Arab Persian Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia has
been the main focus for al-Qaeda seeking to force the
American military to withdraw from that country and to
overthrow its pro-American regime.
Another
reason could be the Kuwaiti government's willingness to
prepare grounds for Abu Ghaith's extradition to the
United States, a country more than willing to have him
in his custody. Despite its declared efforts, Washington
has so far mainly failed to locate, arrest or eliminate
the al-Qaeda leadership about two years after it began a
war against the group and its Afghan backer, the
Taliban. Abu Ghaith has since been on the American
wanted list.
Rumors have been floating around
since the spring on the existence of top al-Qaeda
members among those al-Qaeda suspects in Iran's
detention. However, the Kuwaiti minister's remarks were
the first reliable confirmation of such possibility,
which could provide grounds for the speculated detention
of a few other well-known al-Qaeda members, such as Saad
bin Laden, a Saudi-born son of Osama bin Laden.
Iran's custody of Abu Ghaith and possibly a few
other senior al-Qaeda members puts it in a position to
consolidate its ties with certain countries, while
improving its relations with some others. The Kuwaiti
minister's mentioned statements made more credible the
rumors of Tehran's secret negotiations with Kuwait,
Riyadh and Cairo on the extradition of their respective
nationals held by the Iranians. Iran's security
cooperation with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are well within
its growing bilateral relations with those Persian Gulf
countries with a predictable positive effect on those
relations. However, such cooperation, although not
unprecedented, may have a major impact on normalizing
relations between Iran and Egypt, whose friendly
relations ended in the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian
revolution when they severed diplomatic ties.
Given the interest of the American government in
putting its hand on senior al-Qaeda members, Iran could
use the extradition of Abu Ghaith, and any other
stateless al-Qaeda members, as a bargaining chip in its
dealing with Washington. Of course, the depth of the two
countries' disputes eliminate a significant breakthrough
in their relations in a hypothetical case of the
extradition to the Americans of the mentioned al-Qaeda
member unwanted by his country of birth.
Nevertheless, such a move could decrease the
level of tension in their relations to some extent. Yet
Tehran's possible rejection of his handover to
Washington, if requested by the Americans, could worsen
their relations. The Americans have not yet made any
official request to that effect. However, Kuwait's
removal of itself from the list of interested parties
makes such request a possibility within the next few
weeks, a move with potential importance for the future
development of troubled Iranian-American relations.
Dr Hooman Peimani works as an
independent consultant with international organizations
in Geneva and does research in international
relations.
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