France’s Interior Minister announced Omar bin Laden was deported over accusations of glorifying terrorism on social media, while bin Laden has claimed his innocence.
France’s Interior Minister announced Omar bin Laden had been deported from a Normandy village he was living in after he was accused of glorifying terrorism on social media.
In a post shared on X early Tuesday morning, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau accused Omar bin Laden of “posting comments on his social media accounts in 2023, which made an apology for terrorism”.
Calling the matter “a decision of national security”, the post did not detail when exactly Omar bin Laden had been deported nor reveal where he was sent to.
The administrative ban ensures that Mr. bin Laden cannot return to France, for any reason whatsoever,” Retailleau said.
These additional measures reinforce another decision made by the Prefect of Orne — the French department where bin Laden resided — to expel him from France.
However, French newspaper Le Parisien reports that Omar bin Laden is now living in Qatar. The publication added that bin Laden had launched an appeal against his deportation, which was denied by French justice on Friday.
Bin Laden had been living in Normandy with his wife — a woman identified as a UK national — since 2016. According to the local press, the pair regularly travelled between the UK and France.
Retailleau’s decision comes as he is set to meet Tuesday with 21 prefects, each responsible for a different French département, to discuss immigration. The talks will focus more specifically on how to deal more efficiently with the legal measure called “obligation to leave French territory,” or OQTF, which is primarily used to deport foreign nationals.
