US department imposes sanctions on Hamza bin Laden son of late al-Qaeda leader, designating him a "global terrorist".
The United States has added the son of the late al-Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden to the US counter-terrorism blacklist, in a move that
would keep him from accessing the US financial system.
The State and Treasury departments said on Thursday they had designated
Hamza bin Laden a "global terrorist" who they said had "called
for acts of terrorism in western capitals".
Hamza, who is in his mid-twenties, has become active as
a member of al-Qaeda since his father's death at the hands of US special forces
on May 2, 2011.
Egyptian deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri has since taken up the
reins of the organisation, but Hamza has also issued audio messages to
supporters and was officially named an al-Qaeda member in 2014.
In August 2015, al-Qaeda released an audio message that
it claimed had come from Hamza, in which he urged attacks on the US and its
allies.
Founder of the armed group Osama bin Laden, who was
behind the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, was killed by American special
forces who raided his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Hamza bin Laden was thought to be under house arrest in
Iran at the time, and documents recovered from the compound indicated that
aides had been trying to reunite him with his father.
According to letters found in the US raid on Osama's
hideout in Pakistan, Hamza wrote to his Saudi-born father asking to be trained
to follow him.
Bruce Reidel, an analyst with the Brookings Institution
think tank in Washington, has called Hamza bin Laden the "new face for al
Qaeda" and "an articulate and dangerous enemy," Reuters news
agency said.
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