A Tunisian man believed to have been Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard is hiding out in Germany and collecting over $1,400 a month in welfare, according to a report.
The man, who has only been identified by German media as Sami A for privacy reasons, lives in the city of Bochum with his German wife and four children and earns roughly $1,426 a month in welfare payments, BBC News reported.
Sami A was investigated for his alleged ties to al Qaeda in 2006 but never criminally charged. He must report daily to a police station.
In 2005, a witness at a German anti-terror trial said Sami A worked as one of bin Laden’s bodyguards in Afghanistan for several months in 2000.
Sami A has denied the link to bin Laden, but judges in Dusseldorf believed the witness.
Sami obtained temporary residence in Germany in 1999. Eight years later, his application for asylum was rejected because authorities listed him as a security risk. Sami A moved to Bochum in 2005 after taking several technology courses.
Deportation to Tunisia was out of the question since the country is among those where suspected terrorists are tortured.