US Treasury intelligence division after bin Laden’s son

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews |
The US Treasury Department’s Division of Financial Intelligence has announced it intends to freeze all US assets of four individuals allegedly connected with al-Qaeda’s presence in Iran and Egypt. The four include Mustafa Hamid, who is said to be al-Qaeda’s semi-official envoy to the Iranian government, and Egyptian Islamic Jihad member Muhammad al-Bahtiyti. They also include Yemeni Ali Saleh Husain and Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden’s sons, who is said to be in Iran. US intelligence agencies have been monitoring Saad’s movements ever since he left Sudan, along with his father, in 1996. In March of 2003, US and Pakistani intelligence officials denied earlier reports that Saad and his brother, Hamza, had been captured along the Pakistani-Afghan-Iranian border region. A few months later, Iranian government representatives claimed Saad had been captured in Iran. However, US intelligence observers seem to believe that Saad has been released by the Iranians and has been given government protection in the country. Last November, another of Osama bin Laden’s sons, Omar, was denied political asylum in Spain. He had previously been deported from Britain despite the fact he is married to a British citizen.