Osama Bin Laden's son reached out to US diplomats in Saudi Arabia for help in confirming his father's death at the hands of U.S. special forces, according to diplomatic correspondence made public by Wikileaks on Friday.
A letter from Glen Keiser, U.S. General Counsel in Riyadh, and addressed to Abdullah Bin Laden, one of Osama Bin Laden's sons from his first marriage, was part of an initial cache of documents released online Friday by Wikileaks.
The letter appears to be a response to a request for a death certificate for Osama Bin Laden. It was sent by the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia on September 9, 2011, roughly four months after bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces in a raid on his compound in Pakistan. In the letter, the U.S. embassy informs bin Laden's son that no certificate was issued as is, "regular practice for individuals killed in the course of military operations."
Keiser writes that while he cannot provide a death certificate, proof of the death of bin Laden could be seen in the fact that the Department of Justice dropped a criminal indictment against bin Laden following the raid in Pakistan.
"In light of his death the U.S. attorney provided a declaration of the US Department of Justice attesting to facts supporting the conclusion that Usama bin Laden was killed," wrote Keiser.
Several conspiracy theories have emerged questioning bin Laden's death In the years since President Barack Obama announced that the Al Qaeda leader had been killed by U.S. special forces, and his body dumped at sea. Requests to publish photographs of bin Laden's body or his burial have been denied by the U.S. government, and conflicting accounts have emerged over the exact circumstances of his death.
The letter from Keiser was one of over 500,000 documents Wikileaks released on Friday, which it said came from diplomatic cables sent through Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry.
Read the full text of the letter below, or on the Wikileaks site.
