The world's most wanted man is fueling business in Malaysia, where readers are snapping up one-off magazines that mostly glorify the suspected mastermind of the worst terrorist attacks on US soil.
"You can argue about Osama bin Laden," said Ali Abdullah a 22-year-old vendor in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. "But it's good business for me."
The flurry of special issues -- one 24-page tabloid carries the headline, "I Vow to Destroy America" under an image of bin Laden -- underline sympathy for his cause felt by many in a nation whose 15 million Muslims make up 60 percent of the population.
It's the flip side of derogatory bin Laden products, ranging from T-shirts to toilet paper, snapped up by US consumers since the Sept. 11 attacks.
In Malaysia, the publicity may pose a political threat to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who faces a challenge from Parti Islam SeMalaysia, an opposition party that seeks to impose Islamic law upon the secular nation.
Malaysian police say some of the suspects in the US attacks, including Khalid al-Midhar, who allegedly helped hijack the jetliner that plowed into the Pentagon, had visited Malaysia.
Al-Midhar met a man in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year who was involved in the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, last year, local news reports said.
Then, last week, police arrested five religious teachers and a businessman suspected of involvement in militant activities. The arrests added to 12 others -- including Nik Adli Nik Abdul, the son of a top official in Parti Islam SeMalaysia.
So far, though, the government has avoided a clampdown on pro-bin Laden publications, which are largely published by small, unlisted companies. The tabloid with full-color cover sold by Abdullah for 2 ringgit (US$0.60) lists its editor as Eman Jr and says it's published by Paparazzi Publishing, a company whose phone number isn't listed.
"They don't need a permit for one-off issues," said Rozi Hussin, an official at the Home Affairs Ministry, which regulates publishing in the otherwise tightly policed industry.
Last year, the government forced Parti Islam SeMalaysia to scale back its publication of Harakah to twice a month from twice a week after the newspaper carried articles the government deemed harmful to national security.
As many as 15 publications have sprung up since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington that left more than 5,400 people dead or missing. A quick scan of headlines suggests the publishers' sympathies: "America crumbles at Osama bin Laden's feet" and "If Osama dies, another Osama will we born." Whether in magazines, posters and T-shirts, Malaysians are buying merchandise bearing bin Laden's image.
Some analysts say the motivation for publishers is as much profit as it is an attempt to promote bin Laden's cause.
"Osama bin Laden is a lucrative, money-making venture," said Abdul Razak Baginda, executive director of Malaysia Strategic Research Center. "There is genuine curiosity about exactly who is Osama bin Laden."
Mainstream publishers have also seen circulation increase since the attacks. Average daily sales at Utusan Malaysia, the biggest Malay-language newspaper, rose about 13 percent to 310,000.
Not all of the new publications favor bin Laden.
"Who is Osama: a terrorist or a fighter?" a 62-page booklet published by Aureus Dextra, quotes Islamic scholars as saying bin Laden's actions are against the teachings of Islam.
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