Kuwait has acknowledged for the first time that one of its former citizens, the al-Qaeda spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, is in Iranian custody. However Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf al-Sabah told Saudi newspaper Okaz that the government had turned down an offer by Iran to extradite Abu Ghaith to Kuwait. He said Abu Ghaith’s Kuwaiti citizenship had been withdrawn following the attacks of 11 September 2001. "Kuwait rejects the handover of this person," he said.
"Thanks for the offer, but you keep him."
BBC correspondent Frank Gardner says it is not clear when Abu Ghaith was captured, but he says he has certainly been a key figure in al-Qaeda’s leadership. He has appeared on several video and audio tapes, claiming responsibility for al-Qaeda attacks, and the tapes have a large audience in the Gulf, our correspondent adds. One of America’s most wanted al-Qaeda suspects, Abu Ghaith is a former religious studies teacher, believed to be in his mid-30s, who left Kuwait before the 11 September attacks. Abu Ghaith reportedly became famous in Kuwait during the Iraqi occupation of the country in 1990, when he gave strong sermons daring the government to attack Baghdad.
| Didn't that do a lot of good! |
He was allegedly banned from preaching in Kuwait after the country’s liberation, because his sermons had turned against the government, the constitution and other Arab states. His citizenship was stripped by Kuwaiti authorities citing "national interest" after an appearance on Qatar-based al-Jazeera television in which he vowed retaliation for US air strikes against Afghanistan.
(raises hand) If Kuwait doesn’t want him can we have him, please?
| Or maybe just a few significant parts of him? (I'd like the lungs, please. That's my favorite part...) |
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