JEDDAH – Alia Ghanem, the mother of former al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden,has opened up for the first time about the transformation of her son frombeing a ‘good kid’ to a symbol of fear, deflecting the blame for theunpleasant personality shift to OBL’s fellows.
In an interview to a British newspaper, Ghanem expressed that OBL was avery good kid and he loved her so much.
Sitted beside Osama’s half-brothers, Ghanem recalled her firstborn as a shyboy who was academically capable and became a strong, driven, pious figurein his early 20s while studying economics at King Abdulaziz University inJeddah, where he was also radicalized.
“The people at university changed him as he became a different man.” saidthe 70-year-old lady in response to the most sought-after query.
She mentioned that one of the men he met there was Abdullah Azzam, a memberof the Muslim Brotherhood who was later exiled from Saudi Arabia and becameOsama’s spiritual adviser.Osama bin Laden (second from right) on a visit to Falun, Sweden, in 1971
“He was a very good child until he met some people who pretty muchbrainwashed him in his early 20s. You can call it a cult. They got moneyfor their cause. I would always tell him to stay away from them, and hewould never admit to me what he was doing because he loved me so much.”said the lady who wore wrinkles on her face.
When the lady wearing Red Hijab was asked about the reaction over therealization of the fact that her son had turned into a fully grownjihadist, she replied that it never crossed her mind that suchtransformation would ever take place.
‘We were extremely upset. I did not want any of this to happen. Why wouldhe throw it all away like that?,’ replied the lady.
The conversation with the Guardian was joined in by the half-brothers ofOsama bin Laden, Ahmad and Hassan with the latter saying that everyonerespected the former al-Qaeda chief in the early days when he headed toAfghanistan to fight Soviets.
“At the start, we were very proud of him. Even the Saudi government wouldtreat him in a very noble, respectful way. And then came Osama themujahid,” Hassan said.
He continued that he was very proud of him in the sense that he was hisoldest brother adding that he taught him a lot.
‘But I don’t think I’m very proud of him as a man. He reached superstardomon a global stage, and it was all for nothing,’ decried the bin Ladenfamily member.Alia Ghanem with her son Ahmad
Ahmad, another brother of Osama bin Laden asserted that Ghanem was indenial, 17 years on.
‘She loved him so much and refuses to blame him. Instead, she blames thosearound him. She only knows the good boy side, the side we all saw. Shenever got to know the jihadist side,’ said Ahmad.
Regarding the links of OBL’s family with the ruling elite of Oil-richkingdom, Ahmad opened up with pleasant remarks for the top leaders.
“We had a very good relationship with Mohammed bin Nayef [the former crownprince]. He let the wives and children return,” said the half-brother ofonce global terrorists though as a matter of fact, they have freedom ofmovement inside the city, they cannot leave the kingdom.
Osama’s brother expressed that they were shocked over the 9/11 carnage, butadded that they knew who could be behind all this.
‘I was shocked, stunned. It was a very strange feeling. We knew from thebeginning [that it was Osama], within the first 48 hours. From the youngestto the eldest, we all felt ashamed of him. We knew all of us were going toface horrible consequences. Our family abroad all came back to Saudi,’decried Ahmad.