Mystery of Osama's L.A. 'son'
AN American author who says she was forced into sexual servitude by Osama bin Laden has pulled her 5-year-old son out of a Los Angeles elementary school after rumors swirled that bin Laden was the child's father.
Sudanese-born Kola Boof, 33, says she was held prisoner and forced to have sex with bin Laden in 1996 when she was pursuing an acting career in North Africa. She says bin Laden raped her, then forced her to live with him for four months at the La Maison Arabe hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco. In 1998, after she had escaped to Spain, bin Laden threatened to kill her after reading her first book of poems, "Every Little Bit Hurts," which was critical of Islam.
"He tracked me down and called me and said, 'If I had the time, I would come and slit your throat myself,' " Boof told us yesterday. "After I got that call, I was afraid for my life and moved to London."
Boof, an American citizen who now lives in L.A., says she is under federal protection but provided no details. She says she pulled her son out of school last week after a man tried to take a picture of him there. She insisted that bin Laden did not father her son, who is too young to have been conceived during her relationship with the terrorist.
In the past, Boof has denied rumors of her sexual relationship with bin Laden, but she says she has come clean for her son's safety. "The fact that people think my son is Osama's is very scary to me, so I thought I better clear it up. He's a monster . . . I did not want to be with him. I was basically his prisoner."
Boof says she escaped to Spain after bin Laden tired of her and allowed her to leave. "He asked me to move out so he could move another woman in," she said. "I never saw him again."
The controversial author says she has also been marked for death by the Sudanese-based National Islamic Front, who issued a fatwah in response to her writings condemning slavery in the Sudan, female castration, stoning and other barbarism against African women.
On New Year's Eve, Boof was dropped by her publisher, Russom Damba, after his printing press in Morocco was firebombed. "My publisher says he can't risk his life or his family's well being," she said. "It's terrible."
But while Boof counts a number of high-profile black activists as supporters - including New York University law professor and author Derrick Bell and Washington radio personality Joe Madison - some have cast doubt on her claims.
A New York Times profile last October suggested she was a media manipulator who may be stretching the truth. Boof insists that she's being honest and blasted the Times piece as "distorted."