Osama bin Laden made his first appearance in three years last night before a global television audience, railing against America and threatening to “escalate the killing and fighting against you”.

In a 30-minute videotape posted on Islamist websites to mark the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, bin Laden assails Americans for re-electing President Bush, and invites them to “embrace Islam”.

“America is weak despite its apparent strength,” he declares. Events in Iraq are “out of control” and President Bush is “like the one who ploughs and sows the sea — he harvests nothing but failure”. While the prestige of Islamic warriors has grown globally, he claims, America has been “bled dry economically”.

Devoid of overt threats, it was the terror mastermind’s physical appearance, however, rather than the tape’s message, that caught the attention of security experts. Bin Laden has been on the run for six years, hiding in some of the most inhospitable parts of the world with a £25 million price on his head. But to judge by the latest pictures, he still has time to trim and dye his beard.

Or does he? American security experts suggested last night that bin Laden’s beard in the latest images, thicker and lacking the grey hairs of three years ago, might be false. This could indicate that the world’s most wanted man had gone clean-shaven to conceal his identity, terror experts speculated.

It might even give clues about his possible hiding place. In southeast Asia, the Philippines and Indonesia most Muslim men do not have beards.

The tape, which US intelligence sources said seemed authentic, appeared to have been made recently — there are references to Gordon Brown and President Sarkozy. At one point bin Laden refers to the anniversary “several days ago” of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, which took place on August 6, 1945.

On the basis of the footage, his face looks more lined than in the last video, released in October 2004. But thanks to his trimmed and dyed beard, bin Laden manages to look younger. On previous tapes his flowing beard had turned almost completely grey. This time it is dark black.

But the makeover, possibly evidence of a mid-life crisis for the former millionaire businessman, 50 this year, risks provoking doubts among some of his militant followers, who normally frown on trimmed beards as a sign of vanity.

Wearing a beard is not obligatory for Muslim men, but some radical Islamic sects, particularly bin Laden’s allies in the Taleban movement in Afghanistan, consider it compulsory for adult Muslims. Some conservative Muslims henna their beards, but it is rare to dye them black.

He does not give away many other clues. He is filmed wearing a traditional Arab “dishdash”, a long white robe common in the Gulf. It is covered by a light brown cloak and his head is adorned by his usual white turban.

The bin Laden makeover failed to impress the White House, which insisted that the al-Qaeda leader was still the inspiration for terrorist attacks across the globe. “The tape is a reminder about the dangerous world in which we live,” President Bush said during a visit to Australia. “It’s important that we show resolve and determination to protect ourselves, deny al-Qaeda safe havens.”

The rules

"Anyone who shaves has no claim to the mercy of Allah”

“Act contrary to the polytheists, trim closely the moustache and grow the beard”

“I have no connection with one who shaves, shouts and tears his clothing, eg in grief”

Source: Rulings in the Hadith

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