Bin Laden's son's UK residency application rejected

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The application for a residency visa to Britain by Osama bin Laden's son has been rejected because British authorities believe his presence in the country would be upsetting, the British-born wife of the son of the al-Qaida leader said Thursday. Zaina Alsabah told The Associated Press that the couple's lawyers are appealing the decision, which she described as "illegal" and prompted by a flurry of recent media reports about and interviews with Omar Osama bin Laden. A statement from the couple's attorneys cited an unnamed British consular official in Cairo as saying that bin Laden's son was rejected because his presence in Britain would cause "public concern" due to statements he has made to the press. "It's not a legal decision, the decision can't be based on media reports," said the British-born Alsabah. Omar, who says he hasn't seen his father since he left Afghanistan in 1999 at the age of 19, now lives in Cairo with Alsabah, whom he married in 2006. The couple wants to settle in Britain. Omar applied for a residency visa last October and was interviewed at the British Embassy in Cairo on April 17.