Al-Qaida figure turns himself in

By Abdullah Al-Shihri
The Associated Press

AL EKBARIYA / AP Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby arrives yesterday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after surrendering to Saudi diplomats in Iran. He described the Saudi amnesty as a "generous offer."

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The fighter was identified as Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby, also known as Abu Suleiman al-Makky.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a U.S. counterterrorism official said al-Harby, a disabled sheik, was seen on a video after Sept. 11, seated with bin Laden at a dinner where he talked about the attacks. Al-Harby is considered a confidant and sounding board of bin Laden's, not an operational planner.

In a videotape released after the Sept. 11 attacks, bin Laden was shown talking about the planning of the attacks with al-Harby, according to the Arab TV channel Al-Arabiya.

Al-Harby, who fought with bin Laden against the Russians in Afghanistan about 20 years ago, was shown on state television being carried off a Saudi Airlines plane after arriving in Riyadh. He was pushed in a wheelchair through the airport, and was wearing traditional white robes and Arab headdress.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said al-Harby had contacted the Saudi Embassy in Tehran from the Iranian-Afghan border, where he was stranded. It was not disclosed what al-Harby was wanted for, and his name does not appear on the kingdom's list of 26 most-wanted militants.

"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."

He is the third man to take advantage of the amnesty that King Fahd offered on June 23. The amnesty, which lasts for one month, is a pledge to spare the lives of militants who surrender.

Othman Hadi Al Maqboul al-Amri, No. 21 on the most-wanted list, also has surrendered in response to the amnesty.

Al-Harby described the amnesty as a "generous offer" and urged others to take advantage of it.

He was accompanied by his wife, dressed in black, and a teenage boy whom a Saudi security official identified as his son.
 
Interior Minister Prince Nayef warned there would be no extension to the amnesty, and declared that the kingdom's fight against terrorism is not over.

Since May 2003, the country has suffered a series of suicide bombings, gunbattles and kidnappings that tended to target foreign workers. The attacks have been blamed on al-Qaida and its sympathizers.

"There are still things we have to deal with, and we should not be surprised if anything happens," Nayef said. "We are totally prepared to face any emergency."

A prince yesterday published a poetic tribute to the amnesty, praising King Fahd for giving militants a chance to return to the fold so the "enemies of Islam" would not triumph.

"The amnesty of the Fahd of the Arabs is a medal for those who have repented," says the poem, which was published across a whole page of the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. It was illustrated with pictures of the king, the Kaaba shrine in Mecca, Saudi soldiers, and the poet, Abdel Aziz bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud.