Omar bin Laden barred from entering France

The son of the al-Qaeda founder lived in Normandy from 2016 to 2023, when he was deported. French authorities said he made social media posts advocating terrorism.

The French Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday that it was taking further steps to make sure that Omar bin Laden did not return to the country following his 2023 deportation.

The son of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden had lived in Normandy since 2016.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said in a statement that bin Laden, 43, had "posted comments on his social networks in 2023 that advocated terrorism."

Retailleau said he had now signed an order banning the Saudi artist from returning to France "for any reason whatsoever."

Frequently in the headlines

Omar, who left his family before the 9/11 attacks, first made international headlines in the mid-2000s for giving interviews to Western media outlets. He expressed affection for his father, but disavowed his terrorist acts, making him the one only of Osama bin Laden's more than 20 children to speak out against him publicly.

He also garnered headlines in 2006 for marrying Jane Felix-Browne, a British woman 24 years his senior who later changed her name to Zaina Mohamed Al-Sabah.

The UK government denied him a spousal visa to live in the country in 2008, as did Spain several months later.

He has published a memoir about growing up under his father's iron fist, describing routine physical abuse and exposure to dangerous and squalid living conditions across several different countries. However, upon his father's death in 2011 he complained that US special forces had "violated international law" by not allowing him to have a proper burial.

Bin Laden was granted a residency permit in France in 2016, where he began working full-time as a painter. Following his 2023 deportation, he and his wife are reportedly living in Qatar, where they had resided between 2008 and 2016.

es/ab (AP, AFP)