The adult sons of Osama bin Laden have lashed out at U.S. President Obama, accusing the United States of violating its basic legal principles by killing an unarmed man and disposing of his body in the sea.

Omar Ossama Binladin said in a statement provided to The New York Times on Tuesday that he and his brothers are convinced on the available evidence that bin Laden, America's most wanted criminal, is dead.

Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, the organization responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States on May 2 was shot and killed inside a secured private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs in a covert operation ordered by Obama. Shortly after his death, bin Laden's body was buried at sea.

"If OBL has been killed in that operation as President of United States has claimed then we are just in questioning as per media reports that why an unarmed man was not arrested and tried in a court of law so that truth is revealed to the people of the world," the statement said.

"If he has been summarily executed then, we question the propriety of such assassination where not only international law has been blatantly violated but USA has set a very different example whereby right to have a fair trial, and presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a court of law has been sacrificed on which western society is built and is standing when a trial of OBL was possible for any wrongdoing as that of Iraqi President Sadam Hussein and Serbian President Slobodan Miloševic'. We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems and crime's adjudication as Justice must be seen to be done."

Bin Laden's son also complained that the al Qaeda founder's "sudden and un witnessed" burial at sea has deprived the family of performing religious rights of a Muslim man.

"Finally, now that the operation is concluded we wish the Government of Pakistan to release and hand over all minors of the family and all the family members are reunited at one place and are repatriated to their country of origin, especially female members of the family to avoid further oppression and we seek international support to that effect," the statement added.

Bin Laden's son says they are demanding an inquiry under the United Nations Organization to reach to the accuracy of the facts as stated by United States into the fundamental question as to why our father was not arrested and tried but summarily executed without a court of law. He added that they may be forced to go to an International forum for justice such as International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice and UN in order to obtain answers.

Killing Legal, Says U.S.

The Obama administration has claimed that the killing of bin Laden was legal as al-Qaeda had declared war on the U.S., killed thousands of Americans and vowed to kill more. A U.S. official has cited Article 51 of the UN charter as guaranteeing a nation's inherent right to self- defense.

Attorney General Eric Holder stated last week that U.S. complied with the law. "The operation against bin Laden was justified," Mr. Holder said. "It's lawful to target an enemy commander in the field."

The New York-based nonprofit group Human Rights First, in response to reports that sons of Osama bin Laden have accused the U.S. of violating international law, said in a statement, "The bin Laden family are not accurately portraying international law and certainly aren't unbiased observers. Assuming the existence of an armed conflict against al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden was targetable unless he was surrendering or so injured as to no longer be apparently capable of engaging in hostilities."