Wafah Dufour

Last updated

Wafah Dufour
Born
Wafah bin Ladin

(1975-05-23) May 23, 1975 (age 49) [1]
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education Geneva University
Columbia University
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, model, socialite

Wafah Dufour (born Wafahbin Ladin, May 23, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter, socialite, and model. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Wafah bin Ladin was born on May 23, 1975 (although some reports have given 1978 or 1980) [6] in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Yeslam bin Ladin (paternal half brother of Osama bin Laden), is a Saudi of Yemeni and Iranian origin and her mother, Carmen bin Laden, is of Swiss father and Iranian mother from the princely family (mother's name: Mirdoth/Sheybani). She has Swiss nationality by her mother and United States nationality by birth.

Wafah Dufour spent the early part of her life in Los Angeles, then Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but later moved to Geneva, Switzerland, with her parents. [7] [8] [9] In 1988, her parents separated and finally divorced in January 2006. Her father and his family have reportedly not spoken to either her or her two younger sisters since she was 15 years old. She changed her last name to her mother's maiden name, Dufour.

She earned a law degree from Geneva University, and a master's degree from Columbia Law School in New York City. [10] [11] She speaks French (her mother tongue), English, and Persian.

Career

Television

In early 2006, publisher Judith Regan signed Dufour to appear in a reality television show which planned to follow her battle for success in the music industry in a fly-on-the-wall documentary. [11] In the end, the project was canceled due to lingering resentments about the September 11 attacks. [12]

Music

In 2009, she was recording her first album while living in London and set to collaborate with Atlanta rock band Black Lips. [13]

In 2016, Wafah composed Nimrod Kamer's song, "Nimmy and the Hose".

As of 2019, Dufour was lead singer of the band Deep Tan, based in East London. [14] Other band members included Celeste Guinness and Melia Beaudoin. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Qaeda</span> Pan-Islamic Sunni Jihadist organization (established 1988)

Al-Qaeda is a pan-Islamist militant organization led by Sunni jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic caliphate. Its membership is mostly composed of Arabs but also includes people from other ethnic groups. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian, economic and military targets of the U.S. and its allies; such as the 1998 US embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing, and the September 11 attacks.

Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) was a Saudi-born terrorist and the co-founder of al-Qaeda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osama bin Laden</span> Militant leader (1957–2011)

Osama bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian–born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet Union, and supported the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. Opposed to the United States' foreign policy in the Middle East, Bin Laden declared war on the U.S. in 1996 and advocated attacks targeting US assets in various countries, and supervised the execution of September 11 attacks inside the U.S. in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayman al-Zawahiri</span> Egyptian Islamist militant and 2nd emir of al-Qaeda (1951–2022)

Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri was an Egyptian-born pan-Islamist militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until his death in July 2022. He is best known for being one of the main orchestrators of the September 11 attacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bin Laden family</span> Saudi business family

The bin Laden family, also spelled bin Ladin, is a wealthy Hadhrami family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family. It is the namesake and controlling shareholder of the Saudi Binladin Group, a multinational construction firm. Following the September 11 attacks, the family became the subject of media attention and scrutiny due to the activities of Osama bin Laden, the former head of al-Qaeda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhammad bin Ladin</span> Saudi business magnate (1908–1967)

Muhammad bin Ladin was a Yemeni-born Saudi billionaire business magnate working primarily in the construction industry. He founded what is today the Saudi Binladin Group and became the wealthiest non-royal Saudi, establishing the wealth and prestige of the bin Ladin family. He is the father of Osama bin Laden, who is known for planning the September 11 attacks.

Yeslam bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Ladin better known as Yeslam bin Ladin, also written Yeslam Binladin, as he prefers to spell it, is a businessman and the half-brother of the deceased al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saudi Binladin Group</span> Multinational construction conglomerate

Saudi Binladin Group, known as Binladin Group Global Holding Company since 2019, is a multinational construction conglomerate headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In 2011, the Saudi Binladin Group signed a US$1.23 billion contractual agreement to construct the tallest building in the world, Jeddah Tower in Jeddah. They are also party to a US$3.4 billion agreement to construct the Doha Metro located in Doha. The conglomerate comprises an estimated 537 companies. The group's founder was business magnate Muhammad bin Ladin.

Saʻd bin ʾUsāmah bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin, better known as Saad bin Laden, was one of Osama bin Laden's sons. He continued in his father's footsteps by being active in Al Qaeda, and was being groomed to be his heir apparent. He was killed in an American drone strike in 2009.

Carmen bin Ladin is a Swiss author. She was a member of the bin Ladin family, having entered the family by marriage to Yeslam bin Ladin, a son of the patriarch Muhammad bin Ladin; they have since divorced.

Najwa Ghanem is a Syrian woman who was the first wife and first cousin of Osama bin Laden, being the daughter of his mother's brother. She is also known as Umm Abdallah.

Hamida al-Attas, is the mother of Osama bin Laden, the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda.

Abdallah bin Osama bin Mohammed bin 'Awad bin Laden is the son of Osama bin Laden and Osama's first wife, a Syrian woman named Najwa. He is not to be confused with Osama bin Laden's half-brother Abdullah bin Laden or the elder Sheikh Abdullah bin Laden, who died in 2002 at age 75.

Tarek bin Mohammed bin 'Awad bin Laden is the half-brother of Osama bin Laden, and a member of the Saudi Arabia business community. He was once called "the personification of the dichotomy of Saudi Arabia." He started a textile business with Swedish actor Kjell Bergqvist, intending to make use of some of the large state-owned textile mills in Egypt, and then sell the clothing in the West. "It didn't work out. The factories in Egypt produced for the Soviet Union and they were poorly designed," Bergqvist recalled.

The Saudi Investment Company (SICO), headquartered Geneva, Switzerland, and founded on May 19, 1980, represents the worldwide interests of the Saudi Binladin Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamza bin Laden</span> Member of al-Qaeda (1989 – 2017/2019)

Hamza bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born key member of al-Qaeda. He was a son of Osama bin Laden. On 14 September 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he was killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. In 2024, unconfirmed media reports claimed that he was still alive and a senior leader of al-Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden, a militant Islamist and co-founder of al-Qaeda, in conjunction with several other Islamic militant leaders, issued two fatawa – in 1996 and then again in 1998—that military personnel from the United States and allied countries until they withdraw support for Israel and withdraw military forces from Islamic countries. He was indicted in United States federal court for his alleged involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, and was on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal life of Osama bin Laden</span>

Osama bin Laden (1957–2011), a militant and founder of Al-Qaeda in 1988, believed Muslims should kill civilians and military personnel from the United States and allied countries until they withdrew support for Israel and withdrew military forces from Islamic countries. He was indicted in United States federal court for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, and was on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Omar bin Osama bin Mohammed bin 'Awad bin Laden, better known as Omar bin Laden, is a Saudi artist, author, cultural ambassador, and businessman, and fourth-eldest son of Osama bin Laden, with his first cousin and first wife Najwa Ghanhem. He lived in Normandy, France, until October 2023, when the French authorities canceled his residence permit. Reportedly, he has since been living in Qatar. In October 2024 Bin Laden was barred from returning to the country by the French interior minister Bruno Retailleau for advocating terrorism on social media, a post from the now-deleted account @omarbinladin1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yassin Kadi</span> Saudi Arabian businessman (born 1955)

Yassin Abdullah Kadi is a Saudi Arabian businessman. A multi-millionaire from Jeddah, Kadi trained as an architect in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son-in-law of Sheikh Ahmed Salah Jamjoom, a former Saudi Arabian government minister with close ties to the Saudi royal family.

References

  1. ↑ "Wafah Y Binladin, Born 05/23/1975 in California". CaliforniaBirthIndex.org. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  2. ↑ Anthony Barnett (March 16, 2003). "Pop career for bin Laden niece". The Guardian . Retrieved July 2, 2011. Her uncle might be the most feared terrorist in the world, but Osama bin Laden's niece is about to try and take the world of pop music by storm. Waffa bin Laden, whose father Yeslam is the brother of the world's most wanted man, aims to release a single by the end of the year. mirror
  3. ↑ "Bin Laden's niece bares much in GQ spread: 'My values are like yours,' she says, distancing herself from al-Qaida leader". NBC News. December 23, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2011. 'Everyone relates me to that man, and I have nothing to do with him,' Wafah Dufour, the daughter of bin Laden's half brother, Yeslam Binladin, says in the January edition of the magazine, referring to the al-Qaida leader.
  4. ↑ "Osama bin Laden's niece Wafah Dufour heads this way". Perth Now. February 8, 2008. Archived from the original on June 12, 2012. Retrieved July 2, 2011. It is understood McGuire invited the American model and singer – who is estranged from her terrorist uncle – to come to Australia and perform her new single on the show after meeting her in London last week.
  5. ↑ "Meet the other much-misunderstood Bin Laden clan". Sify News . May 6, 2011. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved July 2, 2011. But he is not quite as freethinking as one of his daughters, Wafah Dufour, who was born in California, of a Swiss-Iranian mother. Wafah was studying at Columbia Law School in New York when her uncle's operatives hit the Twin Towers.
  6. ↑ "My life as a Bin Laden wife | Switzerland | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  7. ↑ "'Da Vinci Code' trial winds down". Boston Globe. March 11, 2006. Archived from the original on March 27, 2006. Retrieved July 2, 2011. Wafah Dufour bin Laden, whose mother was married to the Al Qaeda leader's half-brother, was born in California and lived in Saudi Arabia from age 3 to 10.
  8. ↑ "Bin Laden Niece in Glamour Shots". BBC News . December 23, 2005. She lived in Saudi Arabia, where Bin Laden is from, until she was 10, before moving on to Geneva and back to the US.
  9. ↑ "Reality TV Gig for Bin Laden's Niece". The Sydney Morning Herald . March 11, 2006. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Osama bin Laden's niece, an aspiring singer who posed for a sexy photo shoot in a men's magazine last year, has signed up for a reality television show about her life and her as-yet-unfulfilled 'quest for stardom'.
  10. ↑ Kevin Krolicki (December 24, 2005). "Bin Laden niece poses for sexy photo shoot". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Dufour, who earned a master's degree in law from Columbia University, was in Geneva with her mother at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
  11. 1 2 "Bin Laden's Singing Niece Gets Reality Show". Billboard. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Bin Laden's 'Sexy' Niece On US TV". Sky News. March 20, 2006. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011. The niece of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is to get her own television show in America. Wafah Dufour—daughter of the terrorist's half-brother—has signed a lucrative deal to star in a reality TV show. But the news has enraged relatives 9/11 victims which were masterminded by her Uncle Osama.
  13. ↑ "Osama Bin Laden's niece Wafah Dufour cancels gig: Terrorist's relative told to drop show by new management". Glastonbury Review. February 9, 2009. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved July 2, 2011. Meanwhile, Dufour is set to work with Atlanta rockers Black Lips on a collaboration soon. 'I'm not joking – she's even talked to our manager,' guitarist Cole Alexander told NME.COM. 'We're really honoured. She came to a show in New York and the came to see us in London. She's a fan and has aspirations to be a musician.'
  14. ↑ "Osama bin Laden's niece, John Legend's ex, on European tour with her band". Stuff. December 2, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Osama Bin Laden's Niece And Guinness Heiress Punk Band Tour UK". Toofab.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.