CNN presents 'In the footsteps of bin Laden'

Media News

NEW DELHI, August 22

CNN, the first television news organisation to interview Osama bin Laden in 1997, presents 'In the footsteps of bin Laden', a two-hour investigation that gives a peek into his life and transformation, supported by inputs from people who have known him.

Filmed in 10 countries on four continents, the documentary features 21 first-person accounts of bin Laden from his relatives, childhood friends, former schoolteacher, co-jihadists, bodyguard and even the wife of an al-Qaeda suicide bomber, many of them breaking their silence for the first time on camera.

The documentary takes the viewer through a journey from his teenage years to orchestrating the events on September 11, 2001, tracing the path of bin Laden’s life from his childhood home and school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to his residence in Peshawar, Pakistan, where al-Qaeda was born, and to the mountains of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where he is being searched for.

The high point is the use of never-seen-before photographs, video and footage of the meeting in which al-Qaeda was created. “It is a unique insight into the world of a man who is both feared and revered in equal measure around the world,” said Rena Golden, senior V-P, CNN International.

The documentary ties the evolution of bin Laden’s philosophy not to the events of September, but to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism from the late 1970s through the unique personal perspective of Amanpour.

Amanpour says, “The Islamic Revolution that swept Iran in 1979 and forced the pro-American Shah from power was the first sign that Fundamentalist Islam had awoken as a movement in the Middle East and the entire world continues feeling its shockwaves today.”

'In the footsteps of bin Laden' is based on 'The Osama bin Laden I know' by CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. His book offers numerous new details about bin Laden’s transformation from a quiet, well-bred boy to the Western world’s most wanted terrorist.

Bergen, an author and a Fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., was a CNN producer at the time of the now famous interview with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in March 1997. Bergen, along with others, is featured in the CNN documentary and is credited as a co-producer.

The show will air on August 24 at 5.30 pm and 11.30 pm.

For more information, contact:

Raman Swain

Tel: +91 11 41699129

Fax: +91 11 26475206

E-mail: raman.swain@turner.com