DOHA - OSAMA bin Laden's son Omar arrived in Qatar after being deported from Egypt on Sunday following his return from a failed bid to secure political asylum in Spain, his English-born wife said.

'We're OK. We're in,' Ms Zaina Alsabah bin Laden said in a phone call shortly after their flight from Cairo landed in Doha. She did not provide further details on their status in Qatar.

They were barred from entering Egypt on their return from Spain which on Saturday turned down 27-year-old bin Laden's request for political asylum after he said his life was in danger in the Middle East because he is a pacifist.

'The Spanish government said that Omar was safe in Egypt and so had a place to go, but when we arrived in Egypt they deported us,' his wife said earlier by phone from a plane at Cairo airport.

'We're not feeling very good, seeing that everything we have is in Egypt and we can't get anything, can't get (credit) cards, we just have cash.'

At the time she declined to say where they were heading not to jeopardise their chances of clearing immigration.

However, a Cairo airport official said they were flying to Qatar.

'Egyptian authorities... have expelled him to Qatar in accordance with his wishes,' the official said.

Omar, one of the 19 children of the fugitive founder of the Al-Qaeda terror network, had appealed against Spain's refusal on Wednesday to grant him asylum after arriving in Madrid from Cairo.

But Spain deemed that his security was not in danger and he returned late on Saturday to Cairo, where the couple met and had lived for several months.

'The directive that Spain gave was illegal because they said we would be accepted in Egypt,' Ms Zaina said.

On Saturday, she condemned what she called a 'political decision', adding that the couple had been trying to raise money to fly to New Zealand instead of returning to Egypt.

'We pray that some country in the world will be merciful and allow Omar a place to live in peace,' the bin Ladens said in a statement issued while they were in Spain.

'Omar is an innocent young man who has never participated in a single violent act. His only desire is to live the rest of his life in peace.'

Spain's interior ministry said Wednesday's decision to turn down the asylum request was in line with the opinion of the UN refugee agency.

'Our reasons for leaving Egypt and coming to Spain had nothing to do with any actions of the Egyptian government,' the couple said. 'We are most grateful to the Egyptian government and the lovely Egyptian people.

'They graciously showed us every kindness, more than any country in the world, in fact. There were outsiders working within Egypt which created genuine concern for Omar's safety. That is the only reason we left Egypt.'

Mr Omar bin Laden, who has a Saudi passport, is the fourth child from Osama bin Laden's first marriage. His wife, 52, whom he married in 2007, is British, having changed her name from Jane Felix-Browne.

Mr Omar says he has not spoken to his father since 2000, when he decided to leave a training camp in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden's consent.

The couple, who met while horse riding, set up the 'Al-Mirage' horse ranch just outside Cairo after Britain in April rejected a residence application because his presence might cause 'considerable public concern'.

They had planned to make a business out of arranging horse- and camel-back desert safaris from the ranch, which lies in the shadow of some of Egypt's lesser-known pyramids.

Ms Zaina said on Sunday that she hoped they would be able to go to Britain in early 2009. -- AFP