Osama bin Laden is a "quiet" man whose image has been "distorted" by the media, the chief terrorism suspect's eldest son said in a newspaper interview.
Abdullah bin Laden (24) also told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in Jeddah that he had not been in touch with his Afghan-based father since he returned to Saudi Arabia from Sudan in 1995.
The Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily, which published pictures of the young bin Laden, including one at London's Millennium Dome, said the interview was Abdullah's first "public appearance". The newspaper quoted Abdullah as saying he had lived with his father, who is accused of masterminding the September 11th attacks in the United States, until he returned to Saudi Arabia in 1995.
Before that, said Abdullah, "I moved with my father from one place to another; I lived in the upmarket Riyadh neighbourhood in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, in an air-conditioned and fully furnished villa - not in an austere (environment) as some imagine." Asked whether his father's image in the media corresponded to his true nature, he replied: "(The image) is not quite accurate.
"My father is quiet by nature, and I can state that the media had a part in distorting (his) image and giving it an untrue dimension."
One case in point was the anthrax scare, "which was attributed to my father . . . without checking whether this is true."
Abdullah said he had not been in contact with his father since his return to Saudi Arabia, and "all I know about him is what is reported in the media". Abdullah said that while in Sudan, he had worked with his father, scion of one of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest families which made its fortune in the construction business.
"My father assigned many tasks related to his agricultural and contracting projects in Sudan to me," said Abdullah.
Abdullah, who married a relative shortly after returning to the kingdom and now has a son and a daughter, said he was the eldest son of a large family but did not say how many children Osama bin Laden has from his mother. "(We're) many, thank God," was all he would say.
Osama bin Laden, who was stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994, is reported to have at least three wives and more than 20 children.