Osama's half brother sues over book

The Swiss naturalised half brother of Osama bin Laden is suing a French publishing house for defamation of character and demanding 20 million Swiss francs.

Yeslam bin Laden, described as a multi-millionaire who has lived in Switzerland for many years running a financial company, claims through his lawyer that the authors of a book entitled The Forbidden Variety may have destroyed his lifestyle.

Yeslam also claims the book implies he has had close contact with his half brother, thereby supporting terrorism.

The French edition has been banned in Germany and the German edition is also expected to be banned.

There were no comments today from the office of Yeslam bin Laden.