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Exclusive: Tehran Sends Hamza Bin Laden to Afghanistan

Hamza bin Laden/AP
Hamza bin Laden/AP
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Exclusive: Tehran Sends Hamza Bin Laden to Afghanistan

Hamza bin Laden/AP
Hamza bin Laden/AP

Sources close to the family of Osama bin Laden told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that Iran lately interfered to send bin Laden’s son, Hamza, who lived with his mother in Tehran, to Afghanistan and not to Saudi Arabia, where the rest of his sons are staying.

“A number of bin Laden’s sons, their wives and their sons already returned from Tehran to Saudi Arabia,” the sources confirmed.

Hamza is the son of Khairiah Sabar, one of bin Laden's three surviving wives.

Omar, 37, the fourth son of the former Al Qaeda leader told Asharq Al-Awsat that five of his brothers and sisters from his mother Najwa al-Ghanem, the first wife of bin Laden, were staying in Tehran.

Omar exerted efforts to secure that his brothers and sisters leave Tehran. Those who have returned home are: Mohammed, Bakr, Fatimah, Iman and Othman.

“Contacts with high-ranking officials in Saudi Arabia facilitated their return home,” he said.

Omar explained that history would have changed had Iran allowed his brother Hamza to leave the country and travel to Saudi Arabia or Qatar.

“He wouldn’t be chased after,” he said.

Separately, Omar confirmed that his brother is now married to the daughter of Abu Mohammed al-Masri, denying reports that emerged in the past few days saying that Hamza has recently married a daughter of the lead 9/11 plane hijacker.

Some media outlets previously speculated she could be an Egyptian national in her late teens or early 20s, the daughter of Mohammed Atta, one of the leaders of the 9/11 attack and who personally rammed the northern tower of World Trade Center in New York City.

“He married neither the daughter of Mohammed Atta nor Mohammed Islambouli (a US-designated terrorist),” he said.

Masri is the second in command in Al Qaeda and is wanted by the US for his alleged role in the 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.

Masri lived in Iran before he was released with five of Al Qaeda leaders in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who had been kidnapped in Yemen.

Bin Laden was shot by US Navy Seals during a raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan in 2011.

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South Korea’s Opposition-Controlled National Assembly Votes to Impeach Acting President Han

South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks to reporters as he leaves the Government Complex in Seoul on December 27, 2024, after his impeachment motion was passed by the National Assembly. (Yonhap/AFP)
South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks to reporters as he leaves the Government Complex in Seoul on December 27, 2024, after his impeachment motion was passed by the National Assembly. (Yonhap/AFP)
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South Korea’s Opposition-Controlled National Assembly Votes to Impeach Acting President Han

South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks to reporters as he leaves the Government Complex in Seoul on December 27, 2024, after his impeachment motion was passed by the National Assembly. (Yonhap/AFP)
South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks to reporters as he leaves the Government Complex in Seoul on December 27, 2024, after his impeachment motion was passed by the National Assembly. (Yonhap/AFP)

South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly voted Friday to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo despite vehement protests by governing party lawmakers, further deepening the country’s political crisis set off by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning imposition of martial law and ensuing impeachment.

Han’s impeachment means he will be stripped of the powers and duties of the president until the Constitutional Court decides whether to dismiss or reinstate him. The court is already reviewing whether to uphold Yoon's earlier impeachment. The impeachments of the country’s top two officials worsen its political turmoil, deepen its economic uncertainty and hurt its international image.

The single-chamber National Assembly passed Han’s impeachment motion with a 192-0 vote. Lawmakers with the governing People Power Party boycotted the vote and surrounded the podium where assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik was seated and shouted that the vote was “invalid” and demanded Woo's resignation. No violence or injuries were reported.

The PPP lawmakers protested after Woo called for a vote on Han’s impeachment motion after announcing its passage required a simple majority in the 300-memer assembly, not a two-thirds majority as claimed by the PPP. Most South Korean officials can be impeached by the National Assembly with a simple majority vote, but a president’s impeachment needs the support of two-thirds. There are no specific laws on the impeachment of an acting president.

In a statement, Han called his impeachment “regrettable” but said he respects the assembly's decision and will suspend his duties to “not add to additional confusion and uncertainty.” He said he will wait for “a swift, wise decision” by the Constitutional Court.

Han’s powers were officially suspended after the copies of his impeachment document were delivered to him and the Constitutional Court. The deputy prime minister and finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, is next in line to take over.

Han, who was appointed prime minister by Yoon, became acting president after Yoon, a conservative, was impeached by the National Assembly about two weeks ago over his short-lived Dec. 3 imposition of martial law. Han quickly clashed with the main liberal opposition Democratic Party as he pushed back against opposition-led efforts to fill three vacant seats on the Constitutional Court, establish an independent investigation into Yoon’s martial law decree and legislate pro-farmer bills.

At the heart of the fighting is the Democratic Party’s demand that Han approve the assembly's nominations of three new Constitutional Court justices to restore its full nine-member bench ahead of its ruling on Yoon’s impeachment. That’s a politically sensitive issue because a court decision to dismiss Yoon as president needs support from at least six justices, and adding more justices will likely increase the prospects for Yoon’s ouster.

Yoon’s political allies in the governing party oppose the appointment of the three justices, saying Han shouldn’t exercise the presidential authority to make the appointments while Yoon has yet to be formally removed from office.

On Thursday, Han said he wouldn’t appoint the justices without bipartisan consent. The Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the assembly, submitted an impeachment motion against Han and passed bills calling for the appointment of three justices.

South Korean investigative agencies are probing whether Yoon committed rebellion and abuse of power with his marital law decree. His defense minister, police chief and several other senior military commanders have already been arrested over the deployment of troops and police officers to the National Assembly, which prompted a dramatic standoff that ended when lawmakers managed to enter the chamber and voted unanimously to overrule Yoon’s decree.

Han's impeachment motion accuses him of collaborating and abetting Yoon's declaration of martial law. It also accuses Han of attempting to obstruct the restoration of the Constructional Court's full membership and of delaying investigations into Yoon's alleged rebellion by not appointing independent counsels.