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

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.

Banned from living in the UK

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.

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.