RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A confidant of Osama bin Laden, seen on a videotape with the al-Qaida chief as he talked about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, surrendered to Saudi diplomats in Iran and was flown to the kingdom Tuesday.
Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby, a potentially valuable asset in the war on terror because of his closeness to bin Laden, was shown on Saudi TV being pushed in a wheelchair through the Riyadh airport.
Al-Harby is the most important figure to surface under a Saudi amnesty promising to spare the lives of militants who turn themselves in.
“Thank God, thank God … I called the embassy and we were very well-received,” al-Harby told Saudi TV in the airport terminal. “I have come obeying God, and obeying the (kingdom’s) rulers.”
Al-Harby – also known as Abu Suleiman al-Makky – is considered a sounding board for the al-Qaida chief rather than an operational planner for his terror network, a U.S. counterterrorism official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another U.S. official said al-Harby was not a senior member of al-Qaida.
The Interior Ministry did not say what al-Harby is wanted for. His name does not appear on the kingdom’s list of 26 most-wanted militants.
Mansour al-Nogaidan, a Riyadh journalist and former militant, said al-Harby appeared on a videotape released in November 2001, seated with bin Laden at a dinner in which bin Laden described the planning of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Al-Nogaidan said al-Harby was disabled in both legs while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. He used to preach in a mosque in Mecca, but left Saudi Arabia for Afghanistan shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.
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