One of Osama Bin Laden’s 19 children, Omar Osama Bin Laden, said in an interview with Associated Press that he wanted to be a peace ambassador between the West and the Muslim community. Last year, he had created a tabloid maelstrom when he married a British woman that was 52 years old.
The married couple said that they wanted to be activists and plan a 3,000-mile horse race across North Africa. The race is focused on drawing attention to the cause of peace over militarism.
“It’s about changing the ideas of the Western mind. A lot of people think Arabs – especially the bin Ladens, especially the sons of Osama – are all terrorists. This is not the truth,” he said in an interview last week in Cairo.
However, there will be many that will have a hard time getting around it.
He had lived with his father, Osama, back in Sudan and then moved with him to Afghanistan in 1996.
“I don’t want to be in that situation to just fight. I like to find another way and this other way may be like we do now, talking,” Omar said to reporters in English.
He said that after leaving Afghanistan, he hasn’t seen or been in contact with Osama. Omar explains that his father does not have an email address or phone because he would get tracked via satellites.
However, Omar had no criticism towards his father.
“My father is asking for a truce but I don’t think there is any government (that) respects him. At the same time they do not respect him, why everywhere in the world, they want to fight him? There is a contradiction,” Omar said in the interview.
Osama Bin Laden is currently believed to be hiding out in the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Two of Bin Laden’s other sons are believed to be active in Al-Qaeda. Hamza is believed to be in the border while Saad is believed to be in Iran.
Most of the other children live as legitimate businessmen. Osama was disowned in 1994 when he was stripped of his Saudi citizenship due to his militant activities.