France bans Osama bin Laden’s son from entering the country

French authorities have ordered Omar bin Laden, a painter and the son of slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, to leave the country over his terror-inciting posts on social media, France’s interior minister announced on Tuesday., October 8.


Born in Saudi Arabia,  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, France in 2016, taking up the skill of painting.


France’s new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, said on X on Tuesday that Omar bin Laden had lived in the department of Orne in Normandy as a spouse of a British national.


The minister said that Osama’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 “from returning to France for any reason whatsoever.”
 

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 elicited reactions on social media when it was confirmed in 2007.

After marriage, she took on the Muslim name of Zaina Mohammed.

Omar bin Laden tried applying for a visa to live in the UK, but his bid was rejected by the British authorities.