Pakistan to deport bin Laden family to Saudi Arabia

[1]

Pakistan will deport slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's three widows and children to Saudi Arabia next week after the end of their jail term.

Their lawyer Mohammed Amir Khalil told the media that the 45-day jail term given to the widows and two grown-up daughters will end on April 17 and all members of the slain al-Qaeda chief's family would be deported the following day.

But, there was no official word on the issue and no indication whether Saudi Arabia had agreed to accept them.

The three widows and children are currently serving jail sentence for illegally entering and living in Pakistan.

Two of the widows are from Saudi Arabia and the third from Yemen. It could not be ascertained why the Yemeni widow would be deported to Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this month, a civil judge sentenced the five women to 45 days in prison for illegally entering and staying in Pakistan. He said the prison term would begin from March 3, when they were formally arrested.

The judge further said the family should be deported after the prison sentence ends. Bin Laden's widows and children were detained by Pakistani intelligence agencies after he was killed in a covert US raid in Abbottabad on May 2 last year.

The family is currently being held at a house in Islamabad.