Bin Laden's son rises in al-Qaeda

Don

Several siblings have settled in area; family has given $2 million to Harvard.September 17, 2001


BOSTON -- One brother is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Another owns swanky condos on the waterfront here. Another is an accused international terrorist--and one of the most reviled men on Earth.

With 54 siblings and an enormous fortune, it is little wonder that the Bin Laden family has a global reach. But Boston is where Tuesday's terror began. And the Bin Laden ties here turn out to be tight.

A $1-million gift "from the generosity of the Bin Laden family" promotes the study of Islamic law at Harvard Law School. At Harvard's Graduate School of Design, another $1-million donation from the Bin Ladens endows students and professors who pursue the field of Islamic art and architecture.

Abdullah M. Binladen, a 1994 graduate of Harvard Law School, has offices in Cambridge, though he did not respond to telephone requests for comment. Another brother, Mohammed M. bin Laden, owns six units in the luxurious Flagship Wharf complex in Charlestown, close to where the Constitution is docked. The management of the building--where apartments range from $300,000 to $2 million--would not discuss any of the residents. The family surname apparently is rendered in different ways in English.

The endowments to Harvard, made in the early 1990s, came from the Saudi Bin Laden Group, a collection of family members in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, university spokesman Joe Wrinn said. The Bin Laden family operates Saudi Arabia's largest and richest construction company.

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