Bin Laden son, rejected by Egypt, arrives in Qatar

DUBAI (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's son Omar and his British wife arrived in the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday after being refused entry to Egypt, Al Jazeera television reported.

The Qatar-based television said Omar bin Laden arrived in the Gulf Arab state on an Egyptian passenger aircraft. It gave no further details.

Omar bin Laden and his wife arrived on Saturday in Egypt from Madrid after the Spanish authorities refused his request for asylum. The couple, who lived in Egypt for several months in 2007 and 2008, have also been denied entry to Britain.

Airport sources in Egypt said Omar bin Laden, who has not seen the al Qaeda leader for many years and says he does not support violence, had asked to go to Qatar, where as a Saudi citizen he would have right of entry.

The British authorities have denied Omar bin Laden a visa and the Spanish interior ministry rejected his asylum plea on the grounds that it did not consider he was in danger in Egypt.

His British wife, Zaina al Sabah, said in an interview with Reuters on Friday the couple fear they will be assassinated for condemning the views of Omar's father and al Qaeda.

She said her husband, one of bin Laden's many sons, had stopped living with his father before he masterminded the September 11 attacks on the United States seven years ago.

Omar bin Laden has lodged another request for a British visa, but this will not be considered until February 2009, his wife said.

(Writing by Jonathan Wright; additional reporting by Firouz Sedarat in Dubai; editing by Elizabeth Piper)