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WASHINGTON—A son of Osama bin Laden released a letter Tuesday accusing the U.S. of violating international law in the military operation that killed the al Qaeda leader.

The letter from Omar bin Laden, purporting to be on behalf of other family members, was reported by the New York Times. It cites the U.S. government's reports that bin Laden was unarmed but was killed by a team of Navy SEALs during a May 2 raid at a compound in Pakistan. The letter said the U.S. should have arrested bin Laden and put him on trial as was done with Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic.

"If he has been summarily executed then we question the propriety of such assassination where not only international law has been blatantly violated" but also U.S. laws guaranteeing presumption of innocence anda fair trial, the letter says. "We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems."

The younger bin Laden couldn't be reached. The Times said it was provided a copy by Jean Sasson, a U.S. author who wrote a 2009 book with Omar bin Laden. Ms. Sasson didn't immediately comment.

Omar bin Laden describes himself as the fourth eldest son of the al Qaeda leader and has said in news interviews that he spent time at al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. In the interviews, he has distanced himself from terror attacks carried out against civilians.

The White House has said the military raid was conducte... >>>