London, Asharq Al-Awsat – The daughter of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has told Asharq Al-Awsat via her brother Omar Bin Laden that she has missed her mother, Najwa Ghanem, greatly.
This came after the Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki verified the validity of the story Asharq Al-Awsat broke last Wednesday with regards to the presence of one of Osama Bin Laden’s daughters in Iran.
Iman Bin Laden emphasised her faith in God to Asharq Al-Awsat, indicating that comfort from God will come soon and that He will not let her perish. She has confidence that the prayers she has made continuously at night for God to lessen the ordeal that her and her siblings are going through will be answered.
Iman explained that she has found goodwill and generosity in the officials at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, as they are making a difficult situation easier for her. She indicated that “those officials are not making me feel like a stranger but rather [they are treating me] like one of their daughters.”
The Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki stated recently that the Saudi Embassy in Tehran informed the Iranian authorities that one of Bin Laden’s daughters is present at the embassy and wants to leave the country. Mottaki stated that he is unaware of how she entered Iran and indicated that “she can leave Iran when her identity is verified.”
Najwa Ghanim, Osama Bin Laden’s first wife, praised the comments made by Mottaki, who acknowledged her daughter’s presence in the Saudi diplomatic compound in Tehran. She told Asharq Al-Awsat that to her, Mottaki’s comments came as a relief, as it was the first time that the top official of the Iranian Foreign Ministry had acknowledged the presence of her daughter, Iman, at the Saudi Embassy in Iran. She also pointed out that events have been taking place quickly after Asharq Al-Awsat revealed that her six children and Bin Laden’s wife Umm Hamza have been in Iran for the past eight years.
Najwa Ghanim also thanked the Iranian authorities for their swift response to what Asharq Al-Awsat published and she said that perhaps [it is true that] they did know about the presence of her children in Iran for the past few years as they had entered Iranian territory on fake travel documents using the names of others after the 9/11 attacks.