- LONDON (Reuters) - Osama
bin Laden's mother was quoted in a British newspaper on Sunday as saying
she believes a videotape of her son, which the United States says proves
he had prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks, was a fake.
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- "I believe the evidence against him is not solid.
I think the video they produced is doctored," Alia Ghanem was quoted
as saying by the Mail on Sunday tabloid in an interview conducted by a
Saudi journalist.
-
- "The voice is unclear and uneven. There are too
many gaps and the statements are very unlike him," she said.
-
- The Mail on Sunday said Ghanem was interviewed last week
for the paper by Saudi journalist and bin Laden family friend Khalid
Batarfi,
the editor of Saudi newspaper Al Medina.
-
- She was referring to a videotape released by the United
States which officials say shows the Saudi-born militant celebrating the
massive destruction and death caused when hijacked planes crashed into
New York's World Trade Center.
-
- Ghanem said she was convinced her son was not responsible
for the attacks but feared he would be killed before his name was
cleared.
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- "Osama is too good a Muslim and too good a person
to say or do what the script of the video suggests he said and did,"
she said.
-
- "But I don't agree with everything he says and he
knows that. I pray to Allah that he will live until the truth is
revealed."
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- The United States says the videotape was found in
Afghanistan.
It was shown around the world on December 13.
-
- Bin Laden's current whereabouts is a mystery with no
reported sightings of him for more than a week.
-
- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday
there is a strong possibility that bin Laden was killed in the U.S. bombing
of the Tora Bora mountains in eastern Afghanistan.
-
- The United States has said it does not know his
whereabouts
but has vowed to pursue him until he is captured or killed. There is a
$25 million bounty on his head.
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- Bin Laden is said to be 17th of 57 children born to his
father, who was killed in an air crash when his son was a teenager.
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- His mother said in the newspaper interview he had not
called her in six years, to prevent his location being traced through the
telephone.
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- Saudi Arabia revoked bin Laden's citizenship in 1994
and his family has disowned him.
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