PARIS: 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 on Tuesday.

Born in Saudi Arabia, Omar 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 on 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.

The son of slain Al Qaeda leader settled in France with his British wife several years ago

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 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 Oct 27, 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 said.

“This decision is completely crazy, inconceivable,” he added.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2024