Osama Sons Call Father's Killing Illegal

The killing of Osama bin Laden broke international law and violated American principles, his sons say in a statement to the New York Times. It questioned why their father “was not arrested and tried in a court of law so that truth is revealed to the people of the world,” and faulted “the propriety of such assassination where not only international law has been blatantly violated.” The US neglected its commitment to presumption of innocence, the statement said. “We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems."

Omar bin Laden is the only son specifically named in the statement, which was given to the newspaper by the co-writer of his memoir. Omar had long criticized his father's violence. “As he condemned our father, we now condemn the president of the United States for ordering the execution of unarmed men and women,” the statement reads. Click to read about Osama's youngest son, Hamza, who might have escaped the US raid. (More Osama bin Laden stories.)