A statement from the fourth eldest son of Osama bin Laden denounced the now deceased al Qaeda leader’s assassination as “criminal” and charges that his burial at sea had humiliated the family, according to Reuters.
The statement reads that bin Laden’s children reserved the right to take legal action in the United States and internationally to “determine the true fate of our vanished father.” It adds in pertinent part: “We hold the American President (Barack) Obama legally responsible to clarify the fate of our father, Osama bin Laden, for it is unacceptable, humanely and religiously, to dispose of a person with such importance and status among his people, by throwing his body into the sea in that way, which demeans and humiliates his family and his supporters and which challenges religious provisions and feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims.”
The statement also offers that the U.S. administration had offered no proof to back up its account of the mission. It alleges the goal of the raid had been to kill and not arrest, adding that afterwards the American commandos had “rushed to dispose of the body.”
There was no independent confirmation of the authenticity of the letter, published on the website of Islamist ideologue Abu Walid al-Masri, although several specialists on militant propaganda said the text appeared genuine.