One bin Laden's dead while another is reportedly not happy: a statement attributed to the son of Osama bin Laden calls the al Qaeda leader's killing "criminal" and maintains a right to legal action against the U.S. and internationally.
Omar bin Laden says his father's burial at sea is humiliating to the family -- considering his father's supposed status and importance.
According to Reuters, Omar bin Laden -- Osama bin Laden's fourth eldest son -- has issued written statement that claims the al Qaeda leader's children reserve the right to take legal action both in the United States and internationally. Omar bin Laden says the al Qaeda family maintains that legal right to action, to "determine the true fate of our vanished father" according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
The Omar bin Laden letter hasn't been independently confirmed as to authenticity -- the words published on the website of Islamist ideologue Abu Walid al-Masri. Experts reportedly claim the text appears authentic.
The alleged Omar bin Laden statement includes the message: "We hold the American President [Barack] Obama legally responsible to clarify the fate of our father, Osama bin Laden, for it is unacceptable, humanely and religiously, to dispose of a person with such importance and status among his people, by throwing his body into the sea in that way, which demeans and humiliates his family and his supporters and which challenges religious provisions and feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims."
At the time of bin Laden's killing by United States special ops military forces, U.S. officials have maintained to the media that the al Qaeda leader's sea burial was in line with Islamic customs for death and burial . According to the U.S., Osama bin Laden’s dead body had been ritually washed, then shrouded in a plain white sheet, before being put into a weighted bag for the at-sea burial. The United States also claims Arabic prayers were said over Osama bin Laden's body before being tilted off a flat board -- from the deck of USS aircraft carrier Carl Vinson. The body was supposedly then allowed to slide into the sea. Though 24-hour burial is not in the Qur'an, burial within a day is considered a cultural practice in religious guidelines -- meant as respect for the body and to avoid decay.
Top US officials focused on disposing bin Laden's body within 24 hours in what it claims as a show of respect for the Muslim community, and to avoid the decomposition process. Interestingly, the 24-hour burial rule was not applied to the notorious Uday and Qusay Hussein. The two sons of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein were known for atrocities on far or even surpassing their father. Killed in 2003, U.S forces preserved the Hussein bodies for 11 days by using embalming methods.
Osama bin Laden's burial at sea -- now allegedly called humiliating to the family by Omar bin Laden -- is an allowable method for burial according to Islamic tradition. The U.S. says the at-sea burial of the al Qaeda leader was intentionally to prevent any land grave from becoming a shrine -- a potential landmark for people, followers or terrorists. Insinuation from the United States was that either burial at sea or on land was appropriate in following Muslim rituals and traditions.
The point of contention is that some argue Islamic tradition maintains that at-sea burials are allowable in the religion's view, but only in extraordinary cases -- like when death occurs aboard a ship or located a “long distance from land”. Shiite cleric Ibrahim al-Jabari has argued that if death occurs on land, the deceased is to be buried on land: that the dead “should be buried in the ground…otherwise this would only be inviting fish to a banquet.” For land burials, Islamic tradition includes wrapping the body and then lowering it on its right side into a grave. The Muslim faith stipulates that land burial is usually performed without a box coffin, the head turned to face the direction of Mecca ("Makkah"). A small marker is then placed at the head to indicate the grave.
The letter believed to be from Omar bin Laden says the U.S. administration offered no proof to back up its account of the mission on foreign soil, and alleges that the real goal of the raid on his father was a mission to kill -- not an American intent to arrest the elder bin Laden. That bin Laden claim is coupled with the statement that the American government essentially "rushed to dispose of the body" -- despite any U.S. adherence to Muslim tradition which encourages burial within 24 hours.
Despite the Omar bin Laden statement about the family being humiliated over the at-sea burial of such a "great" man, the eldest son checked himself into a psychiatric hospital less than two years ago -- over what his British wife, Zaina, reportedly attributed to his father's terrorist mentality. In July 2010 the 29-year-old was committed to a psych hospital in what was reported as drug-induced schizophrenia, where Omar bin Laden is claimed to have heard the voice of his terrorist father in his head.
Nearly double his age, Omar bin Laden's 54-year-old wife is actually named Jane Felix Browne and hails from Britain -- the Brit converting to Islam and subsequently changing her name to "Zaina" during her brief relationship with Omar. The couple was married in 2006, the fifth marriage for Jane Felix Browne.
Omar bin Laden has claimed he doesn't believe his father is a terrorist -- previously telling ABC News in an interview: "My father is very kind man. And he very sorry when he do something like 11th September." The oldest son had claimed not to know where his father was living and -- when asked in an interview whether he would tell the Americans if he found out his father's physical location, gave a smiling reply: "Actually, I would hide him. Because he is my father."
It was said that Omar's erratic behavior --which led to the 2010 mental hospital visit -- had prompted the eldest bin Laden's spouse to even consider divorce. She supposedly suspected possible bipolar tendencies -- and, strangely enough, committed herself to a psych unit just days after her husband. Omar's wife Zaina had released statement in mid-2010: “I think he [Omar bin Laden] suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after 9/11.”
Yeah -- him, the city of New York, and the entire United States nation. Fortunately the nation can say it's not related. And, yes, Omar bin Laden really released a book -- titled "Growing up bin Laden" in 2010.