Saudi Arabia Revokes Citizenship For Osama Bin Laden’s Son

Saudi Arabia revoked citizenship for Osama Bin Laden’s son Friday, less than a day after the U.S. State Department put a $1 million bounty on his head, Reuters reports.

The U.S. offered the reward for information leading “to the identification or location in any country” of Hamza Bin Laden, who is thought to have succeeded his father as a top al Qaida leader. The U.S. Departments of State and Defense have maintained a long campaign against al Qaida internationally, foiling terror plots and striking exposed leaders.

A U.S. airstrike in Lybia killed al Qaida leader Musa Abu Dawud in March 2018, and the FBI apprehended an al Qaida sympathizer planning to bomb an Independence Day parade in July 2018.

“Over the next several weeks, [the suspect] continued to express his radical ideology and his desire to commit violence against the United States,” The FBI said of the would-be bomber. “Just last week, during an in-person meeting with an undercover agent, [the suspect] suggested words to the effect, ‘I did tell myself that their holiday is coming up … what would hit them in the core? Blow up a bomb. Blow up a Fourth of July parade.’”

While Saudi Arabia has stripped Bin Laden of citizenship, it’s not clear whether its government possesses any information regarding his whereabouts.