Bin Laden's son visited Dome

The eldest son of Osama bin Laden visited the Millennium Dome last year as a tourist.

Abdullah bin Laden, 24, even posed for a holiday snap under the canopy outside dressed casually in a baseball cap and jeans. However, since the 11 September attacks he is believed to have become a virtual prisoner in his native Saudi Arabia.

While almost all Osama bin Laden's relatives outside Afghanistan have signed declarations disowning the terrorist, Abdullah has not. In an interview last month with the influential Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, he described his father as "a calm and quiet person by nature" and blamed the media for his notoriety. He said he made the trip to London as a tourist but did not say who was with him.

According to Saad al-Fagih, a London-based surgeon and Saudi dissident who heads a group called Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, he is being kept under close surveillance. Mr al-Fagih said "he is being held as a tool" and claimed the Saudis had "sent a message to Osama saying, 'If you hurt us, we will hurt your son'."

Abdullah had worked closely with his father until 1995, when he moved to Saudi Arabia so that he could marry. Some of the companies Abdullah supervised have since been exposed as fronts to raise money for al Qaeda.

He claims not to have spoken to his father for six years.