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| Europe |
| Bin Laden’s niece wants to be a star |
| 2003-03-16 |
| A niece of Osama bin Laden is launching a career as a pop singer after rejecting her Muslim background and throwing herself into the London party scene. Waffa Binladin, whose father Yeslam is the brother of the world's most wanted man, hopes to release a single by the end of the year after being told that she has the looks and voice to become a star. She has been working on a demo tape and has reportedly been receiving advice from rap artist Wyclef Jean. Binladin, 26, has become a fixture on the London club scene after moving to the city six months ago. Last week she joined stars including Rod Stewart, Natalie Imbruglia and Phil Collins at a charity function hosted by Garrards, the jewellers. Her adoption of Western culture - she drinks alcohol, smokes cigarettes and wears mini-skirts and designer clothes by Versace - has seen her cast out by her father's family. Her mother, Carmen bin Laden, who lives in Geneva with Waffa's two younger sisters, said: "The bin Laden family have condemned my daughters because they were brought up in the West and have western ways but I support Waffa's freedom." Binladin, who trained as a lawyer in America, dissociated herself from her notorious uncle long before the September 11 terrorist attacks on America. At the time, she was living in New York less than a mile from the World Trade Centre. Binladin uses the western spelling of the family name and has not been back to America since the attacks and plans to stay in London. Her mother, who is fighting a 10-year divorce battle with her father, said: "The girls are in a very difficult position. People associate them with the Bin Ladens, which they are not. We have had no contact with that family for more than 10 years. We thought about changing the name but then people would think we had something to hide." |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #2 She would get a more profound impact of her lifestyle departure from the Islamic if she became a Hooter's waitress. |
| Posted by: badanov 2003-03-17 00:05:57 |
| #1 Sounds like the first order of business is a name change, both stage and legal, or maybe she wants to capitalize on the surname. I hope she watches her six for fatwas. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-03-16 20:22:36 |