New Bin Laden Photos: Terrorist Seen In Candid Photos Several Years Before 9/11 Attacks

New Osama bin Laden photos just published show a terrorist who was a virtual unknown to U.S. citizens at the time. As Alabama.com reports, the 18 images that the site has on its page were taken years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the pictures, Osama bin Laden is hanging out with his followers and is seen going about his life the mountainous regions of Afghanistan. His surroundings are almost as basic as that of the home he was in before he was killed in Pakistan in 2011.

The new bin Laden photos surfaced during the trial of al-Qaeda operative, Khaled al-Fawwaz, in a New York City federal court. The photos were taken in 1996 by Abdel Barri Atwan, who is known as a Palestinian journalist with sympathies for bin Laden’s terrorist organization.

In the pictures that were released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, bin Laden is seen in front of cameras, smiling, interacting with his contemporaries, hiking along the mountainous terrain, and mulling around Tora Bora, Afghanistan.

See the full gallery of new bin Laden photos HERE.

In some of the images, bin Laden is sitting cross-legged on a basic cot mattress as he positions himself for possible still photos or video clips. Occasional video clips were released by Osama after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 to torment President George W. Bush and American intelligence as they were aggressively trying to locate the terrorist. Bin Laden was a moving target in the mountainous areas of Afghanistan. It wouldn’t be until 2011 when the U.S. finally caught up to him and the Navy SEALS were able to capture and kill America’s most wanted terrorist.

Mirror reports that bin Laden made recruits swear under oath “mafia-style” to the Al Qaeda cause. The terrorist would make anyone who wanted to follow him pledge their allegiance with the following oath: “I accept your allegiance on behalf of Sheikh Usama, to listen and obey, in hardship and ease, and to follow whomsoever Sheikh Usama assigns to be my Amir on the jihad for the sake of God.”

In the court case currently taking place in a New York federal courtroom, it was revealed that the oath is about taking actions to allow “for the establishment of the religion of God, and the rule of Islam that governs the law of God.”

Recruits were ordered “to memorize the secrets of the group,” documents reveal.

The new bin Laden photos show the terrorist living a similar life he did after 9/11.

[Photo Credit: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York via Al.com]