Osama bin Laden's son banned from returning to France, says minister

Saudi painter Omar bin Laden, the fourth-eldest son of former Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, poses during an exhibition of some art in Le Teilleul, western France, on July 1, 2022. JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP

French authorities ordered Omar bin Laden, a son of slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, to leave the country over posts on social media, France's interior minister announced on Tuesday, October 8.

Omar bin Laden had been living in France's Normandy region but left the country in October 2023 after French authorities withdrew his residency papers and ordered him out, the Interior Ministry said. At the time, authorities also barred him from returning to France for two years, the ministry added.

In a message posted on X on Tuesday, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said he imposed an additional ban to ensure that Omar bin Laden "will not be able to return to France for any reason whatsoever." The minister said that the jihadist's son "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.

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.

Born in Saudi Arabia, where he spent his early years, Omar bin Laden, 43, has also lived in Sudan and Afghanistan. He left his father at the age of 19 and eventually settled in Normandy in northern France in 2016, taking up painting. Retailleau said he had lived in France as a spouse of a British national.

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 October 27, 2023 and did so "voluntarily." He appealed the decision but a French court upheld the ruling last week.

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 Tuesday's announcement. "He's too fragile, if he finds out it's going to hurt him a lot," Martin told Agence France-Presse. "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 added. He said his friend was not capable of advocating terrorism or the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 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." According to Martin, his friend was placed into police custody but then released.

Banned from living in the UK

Omar bin Laden's marriage to British woman Jane Felix-Browne, a grandmother who had been divorced five times previously 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 United Kingdom, but his bid was rejected by the British authorities.

Retailleau has vowed to bring "order" on immigration and crime, sparking criticism for saying that "the rule of law is neither intangible nor sacred." His appointment as France's top cop is emblematic of the rightward shift of the government under new Prime Minister Michel Barnier following this summer's legislative elections that resulted in a hung parliament.

Osama bin Laden, himself the son of a hugely wealthy Saudi construction magnate, is believed to have had some two dozen children. US special forces killed the al-Qaeda founder in Pakistan in 2011.