Abdel Rahman al-Rashed told the London-based Arabic-language magazine Al Majalla that "Sheik Osama is alive and in good health. He has gained more weight due to security precautions and his inability to move a lot as you will notice in his next appearance." Mahmoud Khalil, a correspondent for Al Majalla, said that he conducted the interview over a week in October through the internet. He said it took him more than a month to arrange. Mr Khalil refused to say how he got in touch with al-Rashed. In the interview, al-Rashed said Bin Laden will appear soon on a videotape with a new statement. He did not elaborate. Al-Rashed said that Bin Laden chose not to appear on a videotape on the September 11 anniversary because he did not want people to "tie victory to his character". "Bin Laden is completely indifferent to all claims that he was killed...He does not choose the time of his appearances to deny such claims," al-Rashed said, according to the magazine. Focusing on what he described as al-Qaida's media strategy, al-Rashed told Al Majalla that al-Qaida had set aside a budget for "a media department to address the Muslim people". "Sheik Osama pays heed to the media ... we have a specialised department for print, audio and video production and a team of internet experts," al-Rashed was quoted as saying. Al-Rashed also denied US claims that al-Qaida has relations with the Iraqi regime, saying that the reason for any US attack on Iraq would be to control Iraq's oil.