State department adds Hamza bin Laden, who was named an al-Qaida member in 2014, to global terror list, saying he is ‘actively engaged in terrorism’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The Obama administration imposed sanctions on Thursday on a son of Osama bin Laden, saying the younger Bin Laden poses a risk to US national security.

The state department said Hamza bin Laden had been added to its Specially Designated Global Terrorist list after he was “determined to have committed, or pose a serious risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security”.

Hamza bin Laden was officially named an al-Qaida member in 2014 by his father’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

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The US state department says the younger Bin Laden – in a 2015 audio message – called for acts of terrorism in western capitals. In an audio message last year, he threatened revenge against the US and warned Americans they would be targeted at home and abroad.

Hamza bin Laden, who the state department said was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 1989, also has called for “lone wolf”, or solo operative, attacks against US, French and Israeli interests in Washington, Paris and Tel Aviv.

“Hamza bin Laden is actively engaged in terrorism,” the state department said, adding that terrorism designations deny individuals access to the US financial system and “can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and other governments”.

Al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011.

The state department also announced penalties against Ibrahim al-Banna, a senior member of al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula. He served as that group’s security chief and provided military and security guidance to its leadership.

Al-Banna wrote a 2010 article in AQAP’s English-language magazine, Inspire, hailing the September 11 attacks as virtuous, according to the state department, and threatening to target Americans both domestically and abroad.