'Bin Laden dead long before US raid'

Iran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/178898.html

Iran's intelligence minister says the country has reliable information that former head of the al-Qaeda terrorist group Osama bin Laden died of disease some time ago.

“We have accurate information that bin Laden died of illness some time ago,” Heidar Moslehi told reporters on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting on Sunday.

He questioned Washington's claim that bin Laden was killed by American troops in a hiding compound in Pakistan on May 1.

“If the US military and intelligence apparatus have really arrested or killed bin Laden, why don't they show him (his dead body) why have they thrown his corpse into the sea?” Moslehi asked.

“When we apprehended [former Jundallah ringleader Abdul Malik] Rigi, we showed him and also aired his interview,” ISNA quoted the intelligence chief as saying.

By releasing such false news, he said, the White House seeks to overshadow regional awakening.

Moslehi said US officials resort to such PR campaigns to divert attention from their domestic problems as well as their “fragile” economic situation.

US President Barack Obama claimed that Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces on May 1 in a hiding compound in Pakistan.

A US official later announced that bin Laden's body was abruptly buried at sea, falsely boasting that his hasty burial was in accordance with the Islamic law, requiring burial within 24 hours of death.

However, burial at sea is not an Islamic practice and Islam does not have a timeframe for burial.

US officials also claimed their decision for a sea burial was made because no country would accept bin Laden's remains, without elaborating on which countries were actually contacted on the matter.

Analysts, however, have raised serious questions as to why US officials did not allow for the application of a DNA test to officially confirm the identity of the corpse before its hasty burial.

Bin Laden videos fail to prove US claims

A screen shot of the video released by the Pentagon on Saturday, May 07, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/178754.html

Videos released by the Pentagon to allay uncertainty about circumstances of Osama bin Laden's death, fails to support US claim that the al-Qaeda leader was killed in Pakistan last week.

US President Barack Obama claimed that bin Laden was killed by US forces on May 1 in a hiding compound in Pakistan, resisting while unarmed.

Washington claims that during US raid last Monday, five videos were seized at the secret compound in Pakistan where bin Laden was hiding.

On Saturday the Pentagon released some of the videos in an attempt to quell doubts about bin Landen's death.

In the first home videos reportedly filmed in October or November 2010, bin Laden who is wearing a white skullcap and white robes, speaks to the camera in the style of his previous video messages.

There is no audio on the film, but Pentagon officials claim it was a message to the US.

In another video, bin Laden is seen watching a program about himself on Arabic language television.

There are no indications in the videos to prove that they were filmed in the secret compound where bin Laden was killed. The footages also fail to prove that the notorious al-Qaeda leader was alive until May 1.

Following Obama's announcement, a US official said that bin Laden's body was abruptly buried at sea, falsely boasting that his hasty burial was in accordance with the Islamic law, requiring burial within 24 hours of death.

However, burial at sea is not an Islamic practice and Islam does not specify a timeframe for burial.

US officials also claimed that their decision to give bin Laden a sea burial was made because no country would accept his remains, without elaborating on which countries were actually contacted on the matter.

Analysts, however, have raised serious questions as to why US officials did not allow for the application of a DNA test to officially confirm the identity of the corpse before the quick sea burial. Although officials claimed that DNA obtained from the body confirmed that he was actually Osama bin Laden.

Obama officially declares bin Laden dead

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/177774.html

The United States President Barack Obama has announced that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead after he was found hiding in a compound in Pakistan.

"The US launched a targeted operation on that compound... No Americans were hurt. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden, and took his body," Obama said in a televised speech.

"The US has never been and will never be in fight with Islam," he said, adding that bin Laden was also a mass-murderer of Muslims.

The development comes almost ten years after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

On September 11, 2001, a series of coordinated attacks were carried out in the United States, leaving almost 3,000 people dead.

During the incident, 19 reported "al-Qaeda terrorists" hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners and crashed two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings.

The hijackers crashed a third airliner into The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.