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Germany: ‘Special Measures Committee’ to Study Deporting Osama Bin Laden’s Bodyguard

Osama bin Laden. Reuters
Osama bin Laden. Reuters
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Germany: ‘Special Measures Committee’ to Study Deporting Osama Bin Laden’s Bodyguard

Osama bin Laden. Reuters
Osama bin Laden. Reuters

The German government decided to form a "special measures committee" to study ways of deporting a Tunisian man, who allegedly served as one of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards, to his home country.

Germany’s Federal Ministry of Interior announced Thursday the formation of this committee and said it will focus primarily on receiving assurances from the Tunisian government not to torture and humiliate Sami A. once he lands in his country.

The federal interior ministry established this committee back in 2005, and it is being controlled by the parliament (Bundestag).

The committee’s headquarters is in the Berlin-based Joint Counterterrorism Center, and it includes experts from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND).

It is specialized in cases of terrorism suspects and "dangerous" militants, who are not German nationals. It also considers cases of the withdrawal of asylum from serious and criminal offenders.

A spokesman for the federal interior ministry said “there are attempts to deport the former bodyguard of Bin Laden” and a ministerial task force will examine the case soon.

Responding to queries from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the government of North Rhine-Westphalia state said the 42-year-old can’t be deported because he might face torture in Tunisia.

The man, only identified as Sami A., has lived in Germany since 1997 and gets €1,168 (£1,022) a month in welfare payments.

The figure was revealed by a regional government, after the far-right AfD asked about him.

Sami A was investigated for alleged al-Qaeda links in 2006, but he was not charged.

According to witness testimony from a German anti-terror trial in 2005, Sami A. served for several months in 2000 as one of Bin Laden's bodyguards in Afghanistan. He denies that, but judges in Dusseldorf believed the witness.

He lives with a German wife and four children in the city of Bochum, in western Germany.

After obtaining a temporary residence permit in Germany in 1999 he took several technology courses and moved to the city in 2005.

His asylum application was rejected in 2007 because the authorities had listed him as a security risk. He has to report daily at a police station.

The Federal Constitutional Service has put Sami A. since 2012 in the list of dangerous hardliners, whom the department believes they are ready to carry out terrorist operations in Germany.

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World

Migrants Missing after Mediterranean Capsize: NGOs

Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS
Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS
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Migrants Missing after Mediterranean Capsize: NGOs

Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS
Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS

Dozens of people are missing after a migrant boat capsized in the central Mediterranean, the NGOs Mediterranea Saving Humans and Sea-Watch said Sunday on social media.

Two people died and 32 were rescued from the boat, which had left Libya on Saturday afternoon with around 105 people on board, according to Mediterranea Saving Humans, AFP reported.

"Tragic Easter shipwreck. 32 survivors, two bodies recovered and more than 70 people missing," the NGO wrote on X, adding that the boat capsized in a search-and-rescue zone handled by Libyan authorities.

Sea-Watch said two commercial ships saved the survivors and took them to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

An aerial video it posted showed two men clinging to the hull of the capsized vessel, and the approach of one of the commercial ships.

Mediterranea Saving Humans said the accident was "the consequence of policies by European governments that refuse to open safe and legal pathways" for migrants.

Lampedusa is a key entry point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.

Since the start of 2026, at least 683 migrants have lost their lives or gone missing on attempts to cross the sea, according to the UN's migration agency IOM.

According to the Italian government, 6,175 migrants arrived on Italian territory over the same period.

World

Trump Vows Strikes on Iran’s Power Plants, Bridges if Strait of Hormuz isn't Reopened

ABD Başkanı Donald Trump (Reuters)
ABD Başkanı Donald Trump (Reuters)
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Trump Vows Strikes on Iran’s Power Plants, Bridges if Strait of Hormuz isn't Reopened

ABD Başkanı Donald Trump (Reuters)
ABD Başkanı Donald Trump (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump has promised strikes on Iran’s power plants and bridges on Tuesday, restating his threat to attack civilian infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t reopened.

In an expletive-laden post Sunday morning, Trump promised the “crazy bastards” would be “living in Hell” if the waterway isn’t opened to marine traffic, The AP news reported.

Trump had previously threatened strikes two weeks ago, but extended the deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway twice, claiming there were positive signs in negotiations with the Iranians. But there have been few public signs of progress in a diplomatic off-ramp to the war.

World

Pope Leo Marks First Easter as Pontiff with Call for Hope Amid Global Conflicts

Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP)
Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP)
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Pope Leo Marks First Easter as Pontiff with Call for Hope Amid Global Conflicts

Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP)
Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP)

Pope Leo celebrated his first Easter Mass as pontiff with a call Sunday to exercise hope against “the violence of war that kills and destroys,” saying “we need this song of hope today” as conflicts spread around the world.

With the US-Israeli war on Iran in its second month and Russia’s ongoing campaign in Ukraine, Leo has repeatedly called for a halt in hostilities. In his Easter homily, the pope singled out those who wage war, abuse the weak and prioritize profits.

Leo, the first US-born pope, addressed the faithful from an open-air altar in St. Peter’s Square flanked with white roses, while the steps leading down to the piazza where the faithful gathered were filled with spring perennials, symbolically resonating with the pope’s message of hope.

The pontiff implored the faithful to keep their hope in the face of death, which lurks “in injustices, in partisan selfishness, in the oppression of the poor, in the lack of attention given to the most vulnerable.

“We see it in violence, in the wounds of the world, in the cry of pain that rises from every corner because of the abuses that crush the weakest among us, because of the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth’s resources, because of the violence of war that kills and destroys,” he said.

He quoted his predecessor Pope Francis in warning against falling into indifference in the face of “persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty,” because “it is also true that in the midst of darkness, something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit.”

He will later deliver the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” message — Latin for “to the city and the world.”

Christians in the Holy Land were marking a subdued Easter Traditional ceremonies at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by Christians as the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, were scaled back under an agreement with Israeli police. Authorities have put limits on the sizes of public gatherings due to ongoing missile attacks.

The restrictions also dampened the recent Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr holiday, as well as the current weeklong Jewish festival of Passover. On Sunday, the Jewish priestly blessing at the Western Wall — normally attended by tens of thousands — was limited to just 50 people.

The restrictions have strained relations between Israeli authorities and Christian leaders. Police last week prevented two of the church’s top religious leaders, including Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

On Tuesday, the pope had expressed hope that the war could be finished before Easter.