Iran Confirms Osama Bin Laden Daughter at Saudi Embassy

Friday, December 25, 2009 at 2:28 pm under World News

TEHRAN: Iran is confirming a daughter of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, but says it doesn’t know how she entered the country.

A Saudi newspaper reported Wednesday that the 17-year-old, Eman, went to the embassy seeking refuge after eluding guards who have held her, her sister and four brothers under house arrest for eight years.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on a TV talk show that Iran had no idea she was in the country until it heard from the embassy.

Mottaki said if authorities are able to confirm her identity she would be free to leave Iran.

It has long been believed that Iran has held a number of bin Laden’s children since they fled Afghanistan after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.