The poetry of Osama bin Laden to be published

One of the world's most wanted men is about to be a published poet.

The poems of Osama bin Laden are to be published next week in the Language and Communications Journal, an academic publication.

Professor Flagg Miller of the University of California has been studying bin Laden's poetry for four years, working with audio recordings originally found in the al-Qaeda leader's Afghanistan compound.

Miller said the man who masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks is quite the wordsmith.

He used to recite poetry at weddings and he frequently used it in public forums where he was trying to recruit young men.

"There was a variety of occasions he delivered this poetry … so they were sometimes given to large audiences when he was recruiting for jihad in Afghanistan and afterwards, and other times they are delivered at weddings, and far more personal contexts," Miller said.

To many people Osama Bin Laden is the ultimate barbarian, to others an elusive Muslim warrior. Most know him simply as the world's most wanted man.

Few would imagine him as a published poet or wedding raconteur.

But now a host of previously unpublished speeches made by the man accused of planning the 9/11 attacks on the US are to be made public.

They include sermons and readings delivered at a wide range of events from weddings to jihadi recruitment sessions.