JEDDAH, 19 January 2003 — Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Osama Bin Laden’s brother-in-law, has told Arab News that he categorically denies claims made in a report by CNN. The report, according to CNN’s website yesterday, was that Khalifa is "under house arrest" here because intelligence agencies abroad say he helped Bin Laden provide financial support to terrorist groups.
"I am a hundred percent free in Saudi Arabia," he said in an exclusive interview with Arab News. "There is neither honesty nor accuracy in the report by CNN’s Maria Ressa. Indeed, it was highly selective, and veered toward being deliberately inflammatory."
Khalifa, who owns a restaurant on the outskirts of Jeddah, had a major difference of opinion with Osama in 1986. "My friendship with Osama is in the past," he told Arab News. "I cannot relate to what he has become."
According to unnamed "US and Asian authorities" quoted by CNN on its website, Khalifa funded Islamic charities in the Philippines and set up links between Al-Qaeda and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Other so-called "intelligence officials", the web report added, say Khalifa lived in the Philippines from 1988 to 1994 and worked with a terrorist cell which plotted to destroy US airliners in 1995.
And again, it was unnamed "US intelligence officials" who were quoted by Ressa as saying that Khalifa is living under "house arrest" in Saudi Arabia. "That is simply not true," Khalifa reiterated, when asked whether this allegation is true.
"Eighty percent of my problems with the press have been as a result of this reporter," he added, referring to Ressa. "If you look at her reports, they all contain dubious sources and attributions from so-called intelligence officials. The quotes she gives are works of fiction."
"If you compare the SBS report aired in Australia to the CNN report, you will find plenty of evidence supporting my claim that Ressa’s reporting is full of inaccuracies and wild speculation," he added.
CNN itself has been inconsistent with what it reports on TV and what it carries on its website. On TV, for example, Khalifa was shown as free as a bird while on CNN’s website he was said to be under house arrest.
"We’ve all been labeled as terrorists, and so what are the chances of me beating CNN if I take them to court in the US?" Khalifa asked.
