DOHA, November 9, 2008 (AFP) – Osama bin Laden s son Omar arrived in Qatar after being deported from Egypt on Sunday following his return from a failed bid to secure political asylum in Spain, his English-born wife told AFP.
We re OK. We re in, Zaina Alsabah bin Laden said in a phone call shortly after their flight from Cairo landed in Doha.
We have finally found somewhere where we can stay and we thank the government. We cannot thank them enough, she said.
She did not give details on their legal status in Qatar, but Bin Laden s son, who holds a Saudi passport, should normally have the right to live in any of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states, being a citizen of a member state.
The couple were barred from entering Egypt on their return from Spain which on Saturday turned down 27-year-old bin Laden s request for political asylum after he said his life was in danger in the Middle East because he is a pacifist.
The Spanish government said that Omar was safe in Egypt and so had a place to go, but when we arrived in Egypt they deported us, his wife said earlier by phone from a plane at Cairo airport.
We re not feeling very good, seeing that everything we have is in Egypt and we can t get anything, can t get (credit) cards, we just have cash.
At the time she declined to say where they were heading not to jeopardize their chances of clearing immigration.
Egyptian authorities … have expelled him to Qatar in accordance with his wishes, a Cairo airport official told AFP. Omar, one of the 19 children of the fugitive founder of the Al-Qaeda terror network, had appealed against Spain s refusal on Wednesday to grant him asylum after arriving in Madrid from Cairo.
But Spain deemed that his security was not in danger and he returned late on Saturday to Cairo, where the couple met and had lived for several months.
The directive that Spain gave was illegal because they said we would be accepted in Egypt, Zaina said.
On Saturday she condemned what she called a political decision, adding that the couple had been trying to raise money to fly to New Zealand instead of returning to Egypt.
Omar is an innocent young man who has never participated in a single violent act. His only desire is to live the rest of his life in peace, the bin Ladens said in a statement issued while they were in Spain.
Spain s interior ministry said the decision to turn down the asylum request was in line with the opinion of the UN refugee agency.
Our reasons for leaving Egypt and coming to Spain had nothing to do with any actions of the Egyptian government, the couple said. We are most grateful to the Egyptian government and the lovely Egyptian people.
But there were outsiders working within Egypt which created genuine concern for Omar s safety.
Omar bin Laden is the fourth child from Osama bin Laden s first marriage. His wife, 52, whom he married in 2007, is British, having changed her name from Jane Felix-Browne.
Omar says he has not spoken to his father since 2000, when he decided to leave a training camp in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden s consent.
The couple, who met while horse riding, set up the Al-Mirage horse ranch just outside Cairo after Britain in April rejected a residence application because his presence might cause considerable public concern.
Zaina said on Sunday that she hoped they would be able to travel to Britain in early 2009. Our British visa should be through in two month and a half, she said. -AFP
