Mother narrates how late Al-Qaeda leader was brainwashed by ‘cultists’
Ghanem said Osama was a good boy until he met Abdullah Azzam, a Muslim Brotherhood member in the university.
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According to CNN, she said Osama was a good boy until he met Abdullah Azzam, a Muslim Brotherhood member in the university.
Ghanem said that the Muslim Brotherhood operated like a cult, adding that her son got involved with the group in the higher institution.
“The people at university changed him. He became a different man.
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“He was a very good child until he met some people, who pretty much brainwashed him in his early 20s.
“You can call it a cult; they got money for their cause.
“I would always tell him to stay away from them and he would never admit to me what he was doing because he loved me so much,” she told The Guardian.
Osama’s father divorced Ghanem
Osama bin Laden’s mother, Alia Ghanem is an Alawite from Syria.
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She was divorced by Osama’s father, Mohammed bin Laden when he was three years old.
Osama stayed with his mother who got married again to Mohammed al-Attas, who later raised him.
The Al-Qaeda leader’s father died in a plane crash when he was 10 years-old leaving 53 children and about 20 wives.
Al-Qaeda
Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam formed Al-Qaeda in 1988 and the group was prominent in the war against the Soviet Army, who reportedly invaded Afghanistan.
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Al-Qaeda was tagged a terrorist organisation by the United Nations Security Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, the United States and many other countries because of its attacks.
Notable among some attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda include the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya and the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York that left over 2000 people dead.
September 11 attacks
The September 11, 2001 attacks which is now known as the 9/11 attacks was reportedly co-ordinated by Al-Qaeda under the supervision of Osama Bin-Laden.
The attacks, which left over 2000 people dead and 6,000 others injured was carried out using four passenger planes that were hijacked by terrorists.
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Two, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were commandeered and used to crash into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center.
The third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon building leading to the damage of a part of the structure, while the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93 was forced to crash into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania following the efforts of the heroic passengers.
Osama’s mother in shock
Speaking on the 9/11 attacks, Osama’s mother, Ghanem said she was shocked at the news that her son had masterminded the attacks.
According to CNN, she said “We all felt ashamed of him. We knew all of us were going to face horrible consequences."
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Ghanem saw her son last in 1999, when she reportedly went on the request of the Saudi government to convince the Al-Qaeda leader to stop his acts, according to Osama’s body guard, Abu Jandal.
CNN also reports that Jandal said the Al-Qaeda leader refused his mother’s plea, saying "This is a principle. I keep it in my heart and I have promised God not to abandon it."
Osama Bin Laden killed
Osama Bin Laden was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.
According to BBC, a source at the Pentagon said that he was buried at sea after a Muslim funeral on board an aircraft carrier.
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