The sons of Osama bin Laden broke their silence on Tuesday, denouncing his “arbitrary killing” and burial at sea as the United States sought to question the al-Qaeda leader's widows. In a statement given to the New York Times, the sons asked why their father “was not arrested and tried in a court of law so that the truth is revealed to the people of the world”. “We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems,” it said. In a separate statement posted on jihadist sites, the sons also slammed the “criminal mission” ordered by US President Barack Obama which “obliterated an entire defenceless family”. Bin Laden was killed by US forces on May 2 after being tracked down to a Pakistani compound where the architect of the September 11, 2001, attacks is believed to eluded capture for years, despite a massive global hunt.
The statements denouncing his father's killing are said to have been prepared at the direction of Omar bin Laden, 30, and also called for Pakistani authorities to release the al-Qaeda leader's three wives and children.
The United States is keen to question the three women in hopes of finding out more details of al-Qaeda's reach and organisation, as well as details of Bin Laden's final years. With the pivotal US-Pakistan relationship under severe strain, the White House has called on Islamabad to help counter growing mistrust by granting American investigators access to the women. The US administration, which is also sifting through a trove of information and intelligence seized from Bin Laden's compound, insisted it was making “progress” in obtaining more information from Pakistan.