Brit claims she married bin Laden's son

MOULTON, England — A British woman said Wednesday she has married Omar bin Laden, the fourth son of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Jane Felix-Browne, a 51-year-old from this village in northwestern England, said she met bin Laden, 27, while riding a horse near Egypt's Great Pyramid last fall, and they married on April 24.

The Times and Sun newspapers, which initially reported the story, said she was in Egypt for medical treatment for multiple sclerosis at the time.

Felix-Browne confirmed that and said she was returning to Egypt this weekend for further treatment. She said she won't meet her husband there but they talk online every day.

The couple has had Islamic marriage ceremonies in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Felix-Browne said. She said she is his second wife — Islam allows men to have up to four wives.

There was no independent confirmation of her claim that they two had married or that he was indeed bin Laden's son. The Sun printed a copy of what it said was their wedding certificate and pictures purportedly showing the couple in Egypt.

The document, filled out by hand in Arabic and English, carried the names "Omar Osama Mohammed bin Laden," identified as Saudi, and "Zaina Mohamad Al-Sabah," identified as British, along with what appeared to be signatures.

Felix-Browne, who also uses the name Zaina Mohamad, is a parish councilor, with three children and five grandchildren. This would be her sixth marriage.

"I fell in love with Omar. He's an innocent man who I never judged by his father's reputation. Only after we were together two months, did I ask him about Osama," she said.

The newlyweds were last together in May when she spent three weeks at his home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, she said.

Jean-Charles Brisard, co-author of "Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth," said the al-Qaida leader does have a son named Omar.

Felix-Browne said her husband, a scrap dealer and one of 18 brothers, was raised in Sudan and Afghanistan after his father left Saudi Arabia.

She said father and son last met in Afghanistan in 2000, the year before the Sept. 11 attacks.

She said Omar bin Laden was training to be a solider in Afghanistan at age 19, when he left his father "because he wanted to see the world and didn't want to fight and die young."

News of the nuptials caused a ripple of excitement in Moulton — a quaint village more accustomed to community fairs and dances than international media attention.

"It gave me goose bumps when I heard the news," said nursery supervisor Gill Targett, who knows Felix-Browne. "It's all very scary considering what Osama bin Laden has done to so many innocent people. He's still a relation, and blood is thicker than water."