Saudi Arabia announced on Friday it had revoked the citizenship of Hamza bin Laden, son of former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, The Associated Press report.
While the Saudi announcement comes one day after the US government offered a $1 million reward for information leading to Hamza bin Laden’s capture as part of its "Rewards for Justice" program, there is no indication whether the announcement of the Saudi royal decree stripping his citizenship was related to the US move.
The kingdom similarly stripped Osama bin Laden's citizenship in 1994 while living in exile in Sudan when Hamza bin Laden was just a child. Where he is now remains in question.
Saudi Arabia actually revoked Hamza bin Laden's citizenship in November but state-run media in the kingdom did not report on the decision at the time.
Bin Laden is believed to have been born in 1989, the year of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, where his father became known among the mujahedeen fighters, according to AP.
As leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden oversaw a series of attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the bombing of the USS Cole off Yemen. He and others plotted and executed the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, which led to the US invasion of Afghanistan.
US Navy SEALs ultimately killed bin Laden in a raid on a house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.
Hamza bin Laden has in the past been heard in audio recordings calling for revenge on the US for his father's death.
Video released by the CIA in 2017 that was seized during the Abbottabad raid shows Hamza bin Laden with a trimmed mustache but no beard, at his wedding. Previous images have only shown him as a child.
The State Department said in its announcement Thursday about the $1 million bounty on him that it believes he married the daughter of Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker in the September 11 attacks.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)