Bin Laden aide says he wants to mentor British Muslim children

A former adviser to Osama bin Laden has said he would like to mentor British Muslim children after serving 20 years in prison for his role in terrorist attacks on US embassies.

Adel Abdel Bary said he wants to give young people “skills” and a “vision” as he plans his first public interview since returning to Britain following his release from a US prison.

The 64-year-old was convicted for his role in the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Since returning to Britain, Bary has lived with his wife, a British citizen, in their taxpayer-funded home in Maida Vale.

In a profile article on the website Islam21c, which claims to “educate and inspire” Muslims, Bary is quoted as saying: “The best things for our world now are the basics… Go play with the children, give them skills, give them a vision,” The times reports.

Adel Abdel Bary, left, a former adviser to Osama Bin Laden, right, has said he wants to mentor British Muslim children

Bary, a former lawyer, first came to the UK in 1991 to seek asylum from his native Egypt after being jailed and tortured for his role in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

Last year, an open letter from Osama Bin Laden to the US justifying his September 11 terrorist attacks went viral after being discovered on The Guardian website by pro-Palestinian Gen Z TikTokers.

The ‘Letter to America’ was distributed among British Islamic extremists in 2002, a year after the atrocities, and saw the al-Qaeda leader attempt to justify the murderous acts in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia that left almost 3,000 people dead.

It was published in its entirety on The Guardian’s website, based on a translation it had obtained, under a link titled “Read bin Laden’s full letter.” However, the paper removed the letter after people began sharing it in the context of the war between Israel and Hamas.

On TikTok and other social media platforms, creators appear to have equated the September 11 mastermind’s views on Palestine with showing solidarity with the Palestinian people in the current conflict in the Middle East.

One user wrote: ‘Just read it… my eyes have been opened,’ while another said: ‘I think this has made a lot of people realise that even ‘bad guys’ can tell the truth.’

TikTok is “proactively and aggressively” removing the content and has launched an investigation into how the content appeared on the social media site.

Bin Laden – who was killed by US forces in May 2011 during an operation in Pakistan – espoused deeply anti-Semitic views and conspiracy theories in the letter, saying the US military was “shamelessly helping the Jews in the fight against us.”

Last year, an open letter from Osama Bin Laden to the US justifying his terrorist attacks on September 11 went viral

He also attempted to justify the indiscriminate slaughter of American citizens because they indirectly funded the American military effort by paying taxes.

He wrote: “The American people are the ones who pay the taxes that finance the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that attack and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies that occupy our territories in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets that blockade of Iraq.

“These tax dollars are given to Israel so that it can continue to attack us and invade our country. So the American people are the ones who are funding the attacks on us, and they are the ones who are overseeing the spending of this money however they choose, through their chosen candidates.”

The digital edition of The Guardian’s letter was shared by a number of users on TikTok, seemingly deliberately ignoring Bin Laden’s role as a terrorist warlord responsible for instigating and inspiring atrocities around the world.

Most users also do not respond to the most extreme comments bin Laden makes in the manifesto, including calls to “reject” homosexuality and the claim that AIDS is a “satanic American invention.”

The letter also perpetuates a long-standing anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about the Jewish people, claiming that they have “taken control of your economy (and) your media… making you their servants.”