Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist militant who was the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks. His father was Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire from Yemen. Osama was banished from Saudi Arabia in 1992, and shifted his base to Sudan.
KHARTOUM FEBRUARY 16: Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011), also transliterated as Usāmah bin Laden, was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist militant who was the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and founder of the Pan-Islamic militant organization al-Qaeda. His father was Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire from Hadhramaut, Yemen, and the founder of the construction company, Saudi Binladin Group.
His mother, Alia Ghanem, was from a secular middle-class family in Latakia, Syria.
Osama was banished from Saudi Arabia in 1992, lost his Saudi citizenship in 1994, and shifted his base to Sudan until US pressure forced him to leave in 1996. At age 17 in 1974, bin Laden married Najwa Ghanem at Latakia, Syria; but they were later separated and she left Afghanistan on 9 September 2001.
Bin Laden’s other known wives were Khadijah Sharif (married 1983, divorced 1990s); Khairiah Sabar (married 1985); Siham Sabar (married 1987); and Amal al-Sadah (married 2000). Some sources also list a sixth wife, name unknown, whose marriage to bin Laden was annulled soon after the ceremony.
Bin Laden was a highly influential ideologue in Jihadism. A major figure in popular culture, he is widely reviled in the United States and much of the world, but his war against the United States made him popular among many in the Islamic World.
Sudan Offered to Extradite Osama Bin Laden to US
Featured Image: Hamid Mir
