French authorities have ordered Omar bin Laden, the 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.
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.
France’s new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, said on X (former Twitter) that Omar bin Laden had lived in the department of Orne in Normandy as a spouse of a British national.
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.
The interior minister also said he had signed off on a ban preventing Omar bin Laden “to return to France for any reason whatsoever.”
He did not provide further details and it was not clear if Omar bin Laden had already left France.
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 UK, but his bid was rejected by the British authorities.
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.
Retailleau has vowed to bring “order” on immigration and crime, insisting 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.
AFP
