By Nicholas McAnally and Laurent Banguet, AFP
Saudi painter Omar bin Laden, the fourth-eldest son of former Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Photo: JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP
Omar bin Laden, a son of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has been banned from returning to France where he made his home for several years before he was ordered to leave in 2023, France's Interior Minister announced Tuesday local time.
Born in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden has also lived in Sudan and Afghanistan. The 43-year-old settled in the northern French region of Normandy with his British wife several years ago, taking up painting.
France's new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, said Omar bin Laden "posted comments on his social networks in 2023 that advocated terrorism."
"As a result, the prefect of Orne issued an order to leave French territory," Retailleau said.
"The courts have confirmed the legality of this decision taken in the interests of national security," he added on X. The minister also said he had signed off on a ban preventing Omar bin Laden from returning to France "for any reason whatsoever."
Later Tuesday, the Orne prefecture in northern France said Omar bin Laden, a national of Qatar, had lived in the town of Domfront-en-Poiraie since 2018.
'Reprehensible comments'
On the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death in May 2023, comments that French officials say glorified "terrorism and al Qaeda" were published on social media in the name of Omar bin Laden, on an account that has now been suspended. A probe was launched in France.
While Omar bin Laden denied being the author of the "reprehensible comments" he did not delete or condemn them, the prefecture said. He was ordered to leave France on 27 October 2023 and did so "voluntarily." He appealed the decision but a French court upheld the ruling last week.
He left his father at the age of 19.
Speaking to AFP in 2022, Omar bin Laden had said he felt good in France. "I feel free from the responsibility of my father's actions," he said at the time. "Nobody judges me, they respect me and they leave me in peace."
US special forces killed the Al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan in 2011.
Pascal Martin, who described himself as Omar's artistic agent, said bin Laden now lived in Qatar and suffered from psychological problems. Martin and Omar bin Laden's wife decided not to inform him of the announcement.
"He's too fragile, if he finds out it's going to hurt him a lot," Martin told AFP. "This decision is completely crazy, inconceivable," he added.
"He's had a difficult life," Martin said, describing him as "the victim of terrorism."
"Being a son of Osama bin Laden has been an ordeal for him."
Martin also said his friend was not capable of advocating terrrorism or the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack on US soil.
"He says that his life stopped on that day," Martin said. "In none of his statements did I hear him advocate terrorism."
'Misfortune'
According to Martin, his friend was placed into police custody but then released, "without any charge against him that I know of." "He just has the misfortune of being a bin Laden," Martin added.
Another friend, Harry Atterton, said the decision was "scandalous." Atterton, a 87-year-old Briton who also lives in Domfront-en-Poiraie, said Omar bin Laden had "managed to separate himself from his father's ideology."
He described the man as "slightly shy" and generous, saying he did not talk much. "There are thousands of potential terrorists who should leave France, but they chose Omar," added Atterton.
Omar bin Laden's marriage to British woman Jane Felix-Browne, a grandmother and over two decades his senior, had caused considerable media interest when it was confirmed in 2007. After marriage she took on the Muslim name of Zaina Mohammed.
Omar bin Laden sought to live in the UK, but his bid was rejected by the British authorities. Osama bin Laden, himself the son of a wealthy Saudi construction magnate, is believed to have had some two dozen children.
Retailleau has vowed to bring "order" on immigration and crime, insisting that "the rule of law is neither intangible nor sacred."
- AFP
