Bin Laden brother disputes Moore film
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-29 09:26

A half-brother of Osama bin Laden says he enjoyed most of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," except for what he called "inaccuracies" about his family.

Filmmaker Michael Moore appears at a meeting of the Florida delegation on the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Wednesday, July 28, 2004. Moore is flanked by Florida Rep. Corrine Brown and Rep. Peter Deutsch. [AP Photo]

"It's a moving film," Yeslam Binladin, a Geneva-based tycoon and one of the al-Qaida leader's 54 siblings, said in an interview with the French magazine VSD.

"I even laughed at times," said Binladin, adding, "but a lot less when he states errors or inaccuracies about my family, knowing perfectly well that he's deceiving the public."

In the film, Moore says U.S. President Bush tried to cover up his family's longtime business and personal ties to the family of Osama bin Laden and other prominent Saudis because many of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

One of his main points is that the U.S. administration helped 142 Saudis — including two dozen members of bin Laden's family — fly out of the United States two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, even though commercial air space was closed.

"That's false and can be verified by anyone," said the Saudi-born Binladin, who intentionally spells his name differently from Osama, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks. "They benefited from no exceptional authorization to leave American territory."

A recent 9/11 panel report states that the chartered flights took place starting Sept. 14, once airspace had reopened.

Binladin, who has lived in Geneva for many years and has Swiss citizenship, told the magazine that his U.S.-based family members flew into Geneva on Sept. 20 before taking off again for Saudi Arabia.

The movie also states that several family members attended a 2001 wedding of one of Osama bin Laden's sons in Afghanistan — a claim Binladin says is exaggerated.

"Nobody from my family was at this wedding in Afghanistan except for the mother of Osama," said Binladin. Yeslam and Osama are among the 54 sons and daughters of the late Saudi construction magnate Mohammed bin Laden and his 22 wives.

Binladin, the founder of Geneva-based financial company Sico, said the last time he saw his younger half-brother was before Osama left Saudi Arabia in 1981.

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