Britain: Grandmother 'weds bin Laden's son in Egypt and Saudi Arabia' 

Osama bin Laden - one of the world's most wanted men with a US bounty of 25 
million dollars on his head - has reportedly become the father-in-law of a 
51-year-old British grandmother and former parish councillor. 


Moulton, 11 July(AKI) - A 51-year-old grandmother, Jane Felix-Browne, has 
announced she has married al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's 27-year-old son 
Omar in Egypt. Now he is applying for a visa to come and spend time with her in 
Britain - although he has a wife and toddler in Saudi Arabia, British press 
reported on Wednesday.

"I hope people don't judge me too harshly. I married the son, not the father," 
she told the Times newspaper. "He is the most beautiful person I have ever met. 
His heart is pure, he is pious, quiet, a true gentleman, and he is my best 
friend," she added.

Felix-Browne, who has been married five times before, has three sons and five 
grandchildren. She recently resigned as a parish councillor in the northern 
English town of Moulton. Omar would like to spend quite a bit of time in 
Britain, she said. "There is no reason why he should not come to live, but I 
don't think he would like the weather." 

The pair were married in Islamic ceremonies in Egypt and in Saudi Arabia, and 
are awaiting permission from the authorities in Riyadh to make their marriage 
official, according to the Times. 

Felix-Browne met Osama in Egypt, while she was undergoing treatment for 
multiple sclerosis. He works a s a scrap-metal dealer in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 
which he left as a child when his father was expelled for his extremist 
beliefs. She said he lived in exile in Sudan and Afghanistan.

Omar left Afghanistan before al-Qaeda's deadly 11 September 2001 attacks on US 
cities, and has had no contact with him since according to Felix-Browne. Some 
reports claim however that Omar - bin Laden's fourth eldest son - split from 
his father only after 9/11 when they disagreed over tactics. 

"I never had any problem with his past. Omar did not do anything wrong," she 
told the Times. But she admitted her husband finds it very difficult to travel 
anywhere, because of his name, and rarely leaves Saudi Arabia, where he is 
under constant surveillance by the Saudi authorities.

Felix-Browne, who said she would not be taking her husband's name, uses the 
Muslim name Zaina Mohammed. They speak daily over the Internet or by phone. She 
said she was aware Omar was married and has had an hour-long phone conversation 
with his wife in Saudi Arabia. 

Felix-Browne told the Times the couple hoped to help mend the rift between some 
Muslims and West caused by her father-in-law. "All we want is peace in this 
world and I will do all I can to promote it." 


http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=1.0.1097017959

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