Iran Secretly Sentences Al-Qaeda Members

According to the Turkish Press, Iran has secretly tried, convicted, and sentenced Al-Qaeda fugitives in the Islamic republic. The head of Tehran's judiciary Abbas Ali Alizadeh confirmed that secret trials were held but declined to name who was sentenced.

Exactly who has been held in Iran has been the subject of intense speculation, with diplomats and Arab press reports pointing to the possible presence of the movement's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gaith, its number-three Saif al-Adel, as well as bin Laden's son and Al-Qaeda heir, Saad.

Last month the foreign ministry said "a few middle-ranking members" were in prison.

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Iran has extradited some 500 people who crossed into its territory from Afghanistan, some of them suspected low-ranking Al-Qaeda members or Taliban sympathisers -- but foreign diplomats involved in that process complained of "mixed signals", "last minute changes of plan" and "a lot of disinformation" on the part of Iran.

The Iranian regime, headed by Shiite clerics, was fiercely hostile to Afghanistan's extremist Sunni Muslim Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and has vehemently denied allegations that it is supporting them.

I, frankly, don't know what to make of all this other than the fact that it seems Iran is in the business of sending contradictory signals.