Saudi Arabia revokes citizenship of bin Laden heir

Saudi Arabia revokes citizenship of bin Laden heir

Dubai: Saudi Arabia announced has revoked the citizenship of Hamza bin Laden, the son of the late al-Qaeda leader who has become an increasingly prominent figure in the terror network.

There was no immediate explanation why the royal decree stripping his citizenship, signed in November, was only becoming public now. However, the announcement comes after the US government offered a $US1 million reward for information leading to his capture as part of its "Rewards for Justice" program.

In this image from video released by the CIA, Hamza bin Laden is seen as an adult at his wedding.


The kingdom similarly stripped Osama bin Laden's citizenship in 1994 while living in exile in Sudan when Hamza bin Laden was just a child. Where the younger bin Laden is now remains in question.

"This is an example of history rhyming," said Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defence of Democracies who studies al- Qaeda and the Islamic State group. "He's basically born right after al-Qaeda is founded, so his life is totally consumed in the establishment, the formation of al-Qaeda and the launching of its war against the West and America."


Saudi Arabia revoked Hamza's citizenship in November, according to a circular by the Interior Ministry quietly published on Friday by the country's official gazette. State-run media in the kingdom did not report on the decision.

The wanted poster released by the 
US Department of State Rewards for Justice.

The wanted poster released by the US Department of State Rewards for Justice.

Hamza is believed to have been born in 1989, the year of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, where his father became known among the mujahedeen fighters. His father returned to Saudi Arabia and later fled to Sudan after criticising the kingdom for allowing US troops to deploy in the country during the 1991 Gulf War. He later fled Sudan for Afghanistan in 1996, where he declared war against the US.

As leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden oversaw a series of attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the bombing of the USS Cole off Yemen. He and others plotted and executed the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, which led to the US invasion of Afghanistan. US Navy SEALs ultimately killed bin Laden in a raid on a house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.

For Hamza bin Laden, his father initially worried for his safety and thought to send him away for study, but his son instead wanted "to get into the fight," Joscelyn said. He was sent away for explosives training in Pakistan instead.

Video released by the CIA in 2017 that was seized during the Abbottabad raid shows Hamza with a trimmed moustache but no beard, at his wedding. Previous images have only shown him as a child. The US State Department said in its announcement on Friday that it believed he married the daughter of Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker in the September 11 attacks.

Osama bin Laden in 1998.

Osama bin Laden in 1998.Credit:AP

Hamza bin Laden began appearing in militant videos and recordings in 2015 as an al-Qaeda spokesman.


In recent years, the Islamic State group, which began as al-Qaeda in Iraq before breaking away from the terror group, has taken much of the international attention. However, Joscelyn warned al-Qaeda remains a transnational threat, something that authorities may now pay more attention to as the IS group withers away in Syria.

A United Nations report published last year noted that Hamza "continued to emerge as a leadership figure in al-Qaeda." It suggested both he and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden's death, "are reported to be in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas."

"Al-Qaeda's leadership demonstrates strategic patience and its regional affiliates exercise good tactical judgment, embedding themselves in local issues and becoming players," the UN report warned. "While there is as yet little evidence of a re-emerging direct global threat from al-Qaeda, improved leadership and enhanced communication will probably increase the threat over time."


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