Alia Ghanem said her son – who was born into one of Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest families – was “brainwashed” in his early 20s. In a new interview, she questioned why he wanted to “throw it all away”.
Speaking about bin Laden growing up, she said he was shy and intelligent before he went off to fight the Russian occupation in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
“My life was very difficult because he was so far away from me,” said Ms Ghanem. “He was a very good kid and he loved me so much.”
The mother of the man who masterminded the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington said her son was “changed” by the people he met while studying economics at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, where he “became a different man”.
“He was a very good child until he met some people who pretty much brainwashed him in his early 20s,” she told the newspaper.
“I would always tell him to stay away from them, and he would never admit to me what he was doing, because he loved me so much.”
Hassan said his brother was well-respected in the early days when he first travelled to Afghanistan.
“At the start, we were very proud of him,” he said. “Even the Saudi government would treat him in a very noble, respectful way. And then came Osama the mujahid.”
He added: “I am very proud of him in the sense that he was my oldest brother. He taught me a lot.
“But I don’t think I’m very proud of him as a man. He reached superstardom on a global stage, and it was all for nothing.”
Ahmad said his mother blamed those around bin Laden but not her son himself.
The former al Qaeda leader was captured in 2011 at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, before being shot dead.
“It has been 17 years now [since 9/11] and she remains in denial about Osama,” he told The Guardian. “She loved him so much and refuses to blame him.
“Instead, she blames those around him. She only knows the good boy side, the side we all saw. She never got to know the jihadist side.”
Reflecting on the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, which saw almost 3,000 people killed, he said he was “stunned” by the early reports which came out of America.