UK: Bin Laden's son applies for visa

Osama Bin Laden's son has applied for a British visa so he can live in Britain with his wife.

Omar Bin Laden, 26, who admits attending terror training with the Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, has been interviewed with his wife Jane Felix-Browne, 52, by British Embassy officials in Cairo, where he is currently living.

The couple plan to set up house in Jane's £550,000 home in Moulton, Cheshire, have a child through a surrogate mother and work as "peace activists".

Omar and six-times-married Jane, who has changed her name to Zaina Al Sabah Bin Laden, have given the embassy access to their bank accounts to allow checks on the authenticity of their relationship.

The son of the world's most wanted man has divorced his first wife, the mother of his two-year-old son, to prove his marriage to Jane is genuine.

The couple claim they have been assured the visa application will be given the green light when the embassy receives the divorce documents from Saudi Arabia, proving Omar is solely married to Jane.

He and Jane, who has three sons and five grandchildren, married following a whirlwind romance in September 2006 after meeting outside the Pyramids in Cairo.

The couple made their application to the embassy in Cairo last November.

A UK marriage visa would give Omar, the fourth son of the architect of the 9/11 Twin Towers outrage, "leave to remain in the UK" with no time limit on his stay.

Initially, visas for spouse immigration are for two years, after which a person can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain, which would make Omar eligible for a UK passport.

Jane said: "The embassy staff are all very friendly and they are doing all the checks. It could take a while for the visa to come through but there's no reason in law why Omar and I should not be able to live in the UK together.

"It is very easy to get a tourist visa. Other members of Omar's family have had them, but we have applied for a settlement visa. We would stay in Cheshire where I have a house.

"We have been told there will not be a problem as long as we can provide the original documents from his divorce from his first wife. And that should be done in a week."

Meanwhile, the couple are organising a 3,000-mile horse ride from Cairo to Morocco in support of "peace" and in defiance of the threat of terrorist attacks in the area.

Earlier this month, the famous Dakar Rally for cars and motorbikes from Lisbon across north-west Africa to Senegal was cancelled because of fears of an Al Qaeda attack.

Last month four French tourists were murdered in Mauritania – through which much of the rally runs.

But Omar, who last saw his father in Afghanistan in 2000, told The Mail on Sunday:

"Associates of my father forced the cancellation of the Dakar Rally, but they won't stop me from riding.

"We want people to join us on the trek – Jews, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, it doesn't matter where people are from."

Jane and Omar reportedly divorced last year, but it had been staged following a series of death threats. Jane says they are now looking for a surrogate mother so that she can have a child with her new husband.

Immigration lawyer Laura Divine said the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office would usually accept an application for a marriage and settlement visa if all the eligibility criteria were satisfied.

She added: "They would want to see Bin Laden's divorce papers because it is the woman in this case applying for her husband to join her, and that husband must have only one wife."

The British Embassy refused to comment on individual cases.

In Jane's home village of Moulton, neighbours told of their surprise that Osama Bin Laden's son wanted to move from Egypt.

One said: "There's something different every couple of weeks – the last I knew she was getting divorced.

"Why would Bin Laden want to come to this cold, miserable climate? Give me Egypt any day."

Source: Daily Mail (English)