Since October 7, Omar Bin Laden, the son of the man behind the attacks of September 11, 2001, has been obliged to leave French territory… where he had found refuge. Since 2016, the painter has lived in a village in Normandy where he exhibited his paintings, often imbued with his numerous travels across Arab countries.
Indicted for “apology of terrorism” and targeted by an OQTF, the fourth son of Osama Bin Laden now no longer has the right to return to France.
From Afghanistan to Normandy
Born in Saudi Arabia in 1981, Omar Bin Laden grew up in his childhood country, then in Sudan and Afghanistan with his father. From his adolescence, he trained in Al-Qaeda camps for six years before fleeing Afghanistan and his father in 2000, at the age of 19.
After his marriage in Saudi Arabia, he moved to the United Kingdom with his wife. But his visa was not renewed and, after a stay in Qatar, he settled in Domfront-en-Poiraie in the Normandy department of Orne, in 2016. It was there that he devoted himself to his new life as a painter. He signs his paintings with his initials, OBL, exhibits them and sells them for between 800 and 2,500 euros.
“I learned by watching guys on YouTube (…) and I fell in love” with this art, he told France 3 in 2022.
The shadow of Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden
In his paintings, he notably paints the blood red of the Afghan mountains of his childhood. “Red is suffering, war, bombings, death: that’s what it means. It was the most difficult period of my life (…) Something of me lives in Afghanistan.”
“I began to realize that I was in a big prison,” he adds on the set of C à vous, evoking his childhood in Afghanistan. “I wanted to get married, live a normal life, far from the war.”
VIDEO – C à vous’s report on Omar Bin Laden
But the traces of his father, Osama Bin Laden, remain omnipresent. The founder of Al-Qaeda was killed in 2011 in Pakistan by American special forces. “My name was associated with that of my father. (…) My name was banned, cursed almost everywhere. Here [en Normandie]no one judges me because I am Osama’s son. In France, I can work. Here, I am respected,” confesses Omar Bin Laden to Franceinfo.
Why is Omar Bin Laden targeted by an OQTF?
In 2021, for the 10th anniversary of the death of his father Osama, Omar Bin Laden paid tribute to him, although until then he had condemned his actions. “History is only written with the blood of these people – to tell the story of these martyrs who made history, built nations and brought glory. Their blood is the lifeline of our faith until judgment day, Rest in peace,” the terrorist’s son wrote on Twitter.
A publication which arouses the indignation of many Internet users, particularly Saudis. In 2023, the 42-year-old man is indicted for advocating terrorism. Targeted by an OQTF (Obligation to Leave French Territory) by the prefect of Orne, he left France immediately. This Monday, October 7, 2024, the administrative court validated this decision.
Omar Bin Laden is thus definitively banned from returning to France “for any reason whatsoever”, as specified in the recent publication by the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau.
