Posted on 09/30/2001 5:50:40 AM PDT by truther
Yislam bin Laden, brother of Twin Towers terrorist Osama bin Laden, refused to cooperate with U.S. intelligence agents who were hoping to tap him as an informer just months before the devastating attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
Yislam's refusal to help U.S. investigators initially caused Swiss authorities to turn down his application for citizenship, a decision they reversed four months ago, the Associated Press reported late Saturday.
The terrorist's brother refused to help the U.S. despite bin Laden family claims that Osama had been "disowned."
After the Sept. 11 attacks, the wealthy Saudi family released a statement offering what they said was "a strong denunciation and condemnation of this tragic incident ... which runs counter to our gracious religion and which is repugnant to all religions and humanity."
The statement, issued through the Saudi consulate to the Boston-based company Hybridon just days after the attacks, also reiterated claims that the family had severed all ties to Osama.
Hybridon is a biomedical firm in which another bin Laden brother, Yahia M.A. bin Laden, shared a substantial financial interest, along with Saudi banker Abdela bin Mahfouz.
In 1999 Saudi Arabia's largest bank, which is owned by the Mahfouz family, was accused by the Saudi government of trying to funnel $3 million to front groups controlled by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network, according to the Boston Herald.
Twenty-five members of the bin Laden family reportedly live in and around Boston. Many fled to Saudi Arabia on Sept. 18 and 19, leaving the country on private jets just days after the FBI searched luxury homes and apartments they own in the area. (See: FBI Stands Aside as bin Laden Kin Flee U.S.)
Yislam bin Laden has repeatedly distanced himself from his brother Osama, the AP said. "I was shocked by this criminal terrorist attack that killed innocent people. My thoughts and sympathy go to the victims and to the American people," he reportedly told a Swiss newspaper.
Two days before members of the bin Laden family fled Boston, Yislam bin Laden met with two brothers in Cannes to consult on the family's predicament, a French intelligence source told the newspaper Liberation.
Yislam and Osama bin Laden, along with sometime Boston residents Abdullah bin Laden and Mohammed bin Laden, share the family's multibillion-dollar inheritance with 54 half brothers and half sisters sired by the late Shiek Mohammed bin Laden through a series of different wives.
Yislam bin Laden is a businessman in Geneva, Switzerland. Bin Laden Kin Stonewalled U.S. Probers
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.