Bin Laden to be tried

Bin Laden to be tried

ISLAMABAD (DPA): The radical Taliban Islamic militia ruling Afghanistan appears ready for a trial in the United States of Osama bin Laden, the Arab dissident in hiding in the pariah state, accused by Washington of international terrorism, a Pakistani newspaper Saturday reported.

But "the Saudi millionaire will testify only through satellite technology (from his hideout)," Islamabad-based newspaper The News said in a report from Kandahar, the Taliban's political seat in southwestern Afghanistan.

"We cannot trust his life with those who want to kill him," an unidentified Taliban official explained why Osama would not appear before a jury in person.

That was in fact an indirect reference to the American missile attack in 1998 against a base Osama was suspected to run for training terrorists inside Afghanistan. Osama escaped the assault but 19 others were killed.