Washington | Tuesday
AS many as 24 members of terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden’s family were flown out of the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Saudi Ambassador Price Bandar bin Sultan said on US television.
Osama bin Laden, an heir to the family’s construction fortune, is believed to be behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon building that have left about 5,700 people dead or missing.
Prince Bandar said late on Monday that most of bin Laden’s relatives had come to the United States to study but were flown back to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the attacks after the personal intervention of Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz.
”His majesty said it’s not fair for those innocent people to be subjected to any harm,” the ambassador said, appearing on CNN’s ”Larry King Live” program.
”On the other hand, we understood the high emotions,” prince Bandar added. ”So with coordination with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), we got them all out.”
The ambassador said he knew the bin Laden family as ”lovely human beings” who have suffered a lot because of Osama’s activities.
”The rest of them are well-educated, successful businessmen, involved in a lot of charities,” he said. ”I feel pain for them, because he’s caused them a lot of pain.”
Prince Bandar admitted he had a chance to personally meet with Osama bin Laden in the mid-1980s, when Saudi Arabia and the United Stated backed armed resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
”He came to thank me for my efforts to bring the Americans, our friends, to help us against the atheists, he said of the communists,” said the ambassador, adding that he was not impressed by the young man, who fought in Afghanistan at that time.
In other developments, Saudi Arabia said it would protect the Bin Laden’s relatives just the same as all other citizens.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said in comments published Tuesday that members of the wealthy bin Laden family ”are Saudi citizens and have the same rights and duties like others. We do not accept that they be incriminated over the errors of one of their family members,” the minister told Okaz newspaper after a man believed to be of one of Osama’s brothers was held in Turkey on Monday.
Prince Nayef also said the kingdom has not withdrawn Saudi nationality from several children of Osama bin Laden who are living in Saudi Arabia, but added there was no dealing with their father.
Saudi Arabia withdrew Osama’s citizenship in 1994 over his alleged terrorist activities and criticism of the royal family.
Born in Jeddah, in 1957, bin Laden is the 12th child of a Saudi billionaire, who had 25 sons and daughters. He is a multi-millionaire in his own right. – Sapa-AFP
FEATURES:
Shattered World: A Daily Mail & Guardian special on the attack on the US
OFF-SITE:
The Guardian’s special report on the attacks