Omar bin Laden, 41, son of Osama bin Laden, the leader of alQaeda who was killed in 2011, was exposed as a “victim” of the group due to the trauma caused by the experience of terrorist practices.
According to him, his father used his dogs to test chemical weapons and taught him how to shoot an AK47 rifle as a child. The statements were made in an interview with British tabloid The Sun.
“I’m just trying to forget all the bad times as best as I can. Is very hard. I suffer all the time,” said Omar, who broke off his relationship with his father before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in the United States.
Osama bin Laden’s son currently paints pictures that he sells for up to £8,500 (R$36,500), an activity he sees as therapeutic and helping him to cope with the trauma he is experiencing.
He and his wife Zaina, 67, British, live in Normandy in northern France but spend some time in Qatar.
The pair watched the final match of the host country’s World Cup team against the Netherlands in the last game of the group stage on Tuesday. Omar revealed his father was also a football fan but did not confirm the rumor that the al Qaeda leader was an Arsenal fan.
Zaina told the report her husband suffers from “very severe trauma” and panic attacks, and that he developed posttraumatic stress disorder after the events of 9/11, which has prompted him to seek therapy and take prescription medication.
Omar bin Laden left Afghanistan in April 2001, just before the attack on the World Trade Center, and announced that he had said goodbye to his father and that the leader did not like his decision to leave.
“My father never asked me to join alQaeda, but he told me that I was the chosen son to continue his work. He was disappointed when he said he didn’t want that life.”
Omar believes that he was chosen by his father to be his “heir” because he is smarter. “That’s why I’m alive today,” he explains.
After ten years of silence, he was also in Qatar when he learned that his father had been killed by US marines and that he also recognized his brother Khalid’s body in photos posted online after the ambush.
“I thought it was all over and I would stop suffering, but I was wrong, people are still judging me,” he vented.
The couple are working on renovating apartments in a building in Normandy to welcome tourists during the holidays and are planning to open a restaurant.
Two years ago, Omar was denied entry to the UK but he is currently trying to get a visa to fulfill his dream of meeting Zaina’s family.
Man finds unpublished 9/11 photos of great aunt