Osama's father-in-law wants daughter back from Pakistan

Sana, May 17: So how does it feel to be the father-in-law of the now deceased most wanted criminal on earth? If Ahmed Abdul Fattah Al Saada, father of Osama bin Laden's youngest wife, wounded in a US raid that killed the al-Qaeda leader is to be believed, then it is nothing less than a curse.

In an interview with Reuters, a distraught Ahmed Abdul has informed that initially he had no intention of getting his daughter married to the dreaded terrorist. But he was ignorant of Osama's real trade and only knew that he has backed insurgents fighting against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

He has also informed that it took several requests for him to allow, Amal one of his 17 children to go to Afghanistan and marry Osama bin Laden.

His paternal instincts came to the fore when he vouched for his daughter's innocence and wished to see her back home from Pakistan. He was quoted as saying, "My daughter was Osama bin Laden's wife, nothing more, and she had no relation to the al Qaeda organisation. I am confident of her innocence."

Disapproving the actions of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, he said, "We are not in favour of bin Laden's actions and the al Qaeda organisation. We believe in coexistence between people."

Throwing more light on the sequence of events that preceded the marriage of his daughter with Osama he said, "Rashad (a bin Laden aide) asked his wife to nominate a girl to marry bin Laden because he wanted a Yemeni wife. The teacher selected my daughter...I refused at first and insisted on knowing who this person was. After that they said that he was Osama bin Laden, from a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia."

Informing that it was his daughter who insisted on the marriage, he said, "She stuck to her view and told me she wanted to marry him, and I have not imposed a husband on any of my daughters. So I agreed."

He has also been reported by Reuters as saying that he never met Osama bin Laden and that he had lost all contact with his daughter after the 9/11 attacks on the US.

He is quoted as saying, "We did not know until now where she was or how she was living or how many children she had. We had been planning for her mother and one of her brothers to visit her but the September events thwarted this plan."

Ahmed, was also quoted as saying that he has met the Yemeni foreign minister to get his daughter back, "We are not worried about the Americans interrogating her because she is just the wife of Osama bin Laden, and she and her children have no link to what he did. But I strongly reject handing to the American side this Yemeni citizen. She needs to return to her country."

The report also quotes him as saying, "When I go to the mosque at prayer time, I call on God to return her to us. I hope they are given the chance to return to Yemen to begin a new life far from violence and being pursued."

OneIndia News