Saudi sources: 2nd militant surrenders
From Henry Schuster
CNN
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A Saudi militant has turned himself in to authorities in Syria, Saudi security sources said Thursday, the second such surrender in two days.
The militant, Ibrahim al-Harbi, gave himself up Thursday at the Saudi Embassy in Damascus, sources said.
He is said to have met with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
On Tuesday, another militant, Khalid al-Harbi, surrendered to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and was flown to Saudi Arabia. (Full story)
Both men, who are thought to be from the same Saudi tribe but not necessarily closely related, appear to be taking advantage of a 30-day leniency offer extended by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah last month.
It is not known when Ibrahim al-Harbi will be returned to Saudi Arabia, the security sources, and it's unclear how long he had been in Syria.
A Saudi cleric involved in the leniency program has asked the government to extend it beyond the expiration date of July 23. The leniency offer would exempt terrorism suspects from the death penalty in Saudi Arabia but not from lawsuits by victims' families.
Saudi sources said Ibrahim al-Harbi is in his mid-30s and is known to be an extremist and Islamic fundamentalist.
The sources said he fought in Afghanistan and Chechnya for about 13 years and returned to Saudi Arabia sometime after the September 11 attacks for medical treatment after he was shot in the Russian breakaway republic.
Unconfirmed reports on Islamist Web sites have identified him as fighter in Iraq during the past 15 months. It is not known how Ibrahim al-Harbi entered Syria, but there is speculation among sources that he crossed over its border with Iraq.
CNNArabic.com's Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.
