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 Tuesday.
Born in Saudi Arabia, where he spent his formative 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, northern France, in 2016 and began painting.
France’s new interior minister, Bruno Reteleau, said on Twitter (ex-Twitter) that Omar bin Laden lived in the Orne department of Normandy as the spouse of a British citizen.
The minister said 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,” Retaileau said.
“The courts have confirmed the legality of this decision, taken in the interest of national security,” he said.
The interior minister also said he had signed a ban preventing Omar bin Laden from “returning to France for any reason”.
He did not provide further details and it was not clear whether Omar bin Laden had already left France.
Omar bin Laden’s marriage to British woman Jane Felix-Brown, who was his grandmother, divorced five times before, and was two decades older than him, generated considerable media interest when it was confirmed in 2007.
After marriage, she took the Muslim name Zaina Mohammad. Omar bin Laden wanted to live in Britain, but British officials rejected his bid.
Osama bin Laden, himself the son of an extremely wealthy Saudi construction magnate, is believed to have had about two dozen children.
US special forces killed an al-Qaeda founder in Pakistan in 2011.
Retaileau has vowed to bring “order” to immigration and crime, insisting that “the rule of law is neither abstract nor sacrosanct.”
His appointment as France’s top police officer marks a rightward shift of the government under new Prime Minister Michel Barnier after this summer’s legislative elections, which resulted in a hung parliament.
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