E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSUpdated at 8:48 a.m. ET: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A court in Pakistan has charged former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's three widows and two daughters with illegally staying in the country and sentenced them to 45 days in jail, their lawyers said Monday.
They will spend 14 days in prison – having been in detention since early March – before being deported to their home countries, including Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
In addition to the prison sentences, they were fined 10,000 rupees ($110) each, one of the lawyers, Aamir Khalil, said.
“The Yemeni and Saudi governments have allowed them to return and necessary travelling documents will be provided on release from jail,” he told NBC News. "We have right of appeal but will not exercise that."
The New York Times said court documents named two of the wives as Kharia Hussain Sabir and Siham Sharif, both citizens of Saudi Arabia. The third and the youngest is Amal Ahmad Abdul Fateh, 30, who is from Yemen. She was wounded in the American raid in which bin Laden was killed, it said.
Zakaria al Sadah, brother of bin Laden's youngest widow, Amal, told NBC News through his lawyer that he is "very happy that everyone will be freed soon and back with the family" in Yemen.
Al Sadah has been in Pakistan for months working to secure his sister and her five children's release from Pakistani custody, where they've been since the US forces' raid in May 2011.
He plans to stay in Pakistan until their release, in 2 weeks, and accompany them back to Yemen. He says they are "still working" on plans for their return, including where, exactly, they will live once home.
Once outside Pakistan, bin Laden's relatives could reveal details about how the world's most wanted man was able to hide in U.S. ally Pakistan for years, possibly assisted by elements of the country's powerful military and spy agency.
NYT: On the run, Bin Laden had 4 kids, 5 houses, a wife says
Pakistan's government and military have said they had no links to bin Laden.
Any revelations about ties to bin Laden could embarrass Islamabad and infuriate Washington, which staged a decade-long hunt for bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Bin Laden was shot and killed in May last year by U.S. special forces who stormed his house in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, about a two-hour drive from the capital Islamabad.
Exclusive: Bin Laden's brother-in-law speaks out
Yemen-born Amal Al-Sadeh, the youngest widow, and her four children were among the 16 people detained by Pakistani authorities after the raid, which also included two other wives from Saudi Arabia.
Arab news channel al-Jazeera reported that a Pakistani commission has interviewed the family members for clues about how the former al-Qaida chief managed to stay in the country undetected.
Last month, bin Laden’s brother-in-law, Zakaria al-Sadah, spoke to NBC News in Islamabad in his first interview with an American television network.
NBC News correspondent Amna Nawaz, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Leave a Comment:
I am legitimately curious as to what Washington will do if it is revealed the Pakistani military/government aided Bin Laden for the past ten years (which is most likely true IMO).
I say we should cut all US aid if this is true. Its about time Washington stops lying to itself and realizes the taxpayer dollars it sends to Pakistan for "economic" and "humanitarian" purposes are probably used for neither of the two. If Pakistan has money for nukes, they can scrap up some money for food or whatever they claim to need.
Who am I to post an opinion though...
GO JAYHAWKS
You have every right to post an oppinion because you are an American Citizen and are protected by our constitution. Now only if Pakistan could have deported OBL when they had the chance....
What precisely do you mean when you talk about "Pakistani military/government" aid to Osama bin Laden? Are you talking about one or more persons within the military and/or government, or are you talking about some monolithic policy that all members of the upper echelons knew about and approved?
There's a big difference between the two.
Osama is the boss...let his offspring spread his sperm everywhere.
Long live the Sheik.
More balls than a whole NFL football team.
The guy was right also...get that guck out of Afganistan and Saudia Arabia you terrorist INFIDELS.
YA you whitey
This was put on hold months ago when they cut us off from using Pakistani roads as an access to supply our soldiers. As a consequence, we're paying even more to fly in goods and services to our soldiers. The "aid" is actually toll we pay them to use their country to get into Afghanistan. We don't like them and they don't like us. No one is doing anyone any favors.
"If," GBA? Dude, it's already been made pretty clear.
aid money being slid around under the table? I am shocked, shocked you could even think of such a thing.
in other news, Pashtun territory is overrun with wackos who read their Korans upside down and think "kill" when they see "love." so overrun that whatever sitting Pak government holds power has virtually ceded the territory to the Bin Looneys, they don't dare send in a tax collector for fear of starting a shooting war. been like that for over a decade. you may remember the wackos spilled out of their haven a couple years ago and almost shot their way into the capital of Pakistan.
yes sir, our most steadfast ally in the war against mindless terror for no apparent good reason.
Pakistan - not another cent to be spent for those two faced jerks. They knew they had BL in their country! Anybody telling you different is a liar.
Down with Pakistan and its lies. They are not worthy of our help.
G.W. Bush will have all air traffic shut down in the Middle East so the Bin Laden Family can have a safe escorted flight back to Saudi Arabia.
Bryon Raum
Thats not exactly correct. We've been giving aid to Pakistan for years. Well before 9-11.
Good thing we gave them nukes, eh?
What a circus! First they blessed their stay now they kick them out!
OBL's family lives here in the U.S. But, I guess we are not Pakistanis. Although, like the Pakistanis we harbored OBL here as well.
the grafters won't even STAY BOUGHT! wot a country... .
Phenomenal112
If a member of your family was a murderer should we lock up your whole family or only punish him?
Just becasue Bin Laden has family that lives here does not make them guilty of anything. Now I'm not saying they are innocent of everything but we live in a country where you are not responsible for the crimes of another, family or no family.
I think you mistook my point, cgtrav. We harbored Bin Laden (a war criminal and terrorist) and his family much like Pakistan. The difference is we won't throw his family under the bus as Pakistan has.
Once outside Pakistan, bin Laden's relatives could reveal details about how the world's most wanted man was able to hide in U.S. ally Pakistan for years, possibly assisted by elements of the country's powerful military and spy agency.
When you friends with the Bush family, I'm sure its pretty easy...
Mowing down the house and sentencing the family is not making the Pakistanis look any better.
Pakistan is making a statement...for whatever reasons...& disassociating themselves from Bin Laden
...expecting the "real truth" from BL's relatives leaving Pakistan is akin to expecting the Easter Bunny
Razing the huse was a good idea. Did you want it to become a 'shrine' for muharibun murderers?
Expecting the real truth from any Muslim is akin to expecting the Easter Bunny. Their holy scriptures (the Quran) order them to lie to the Infidel. Therefore, If you're a good Muslim you MUST lie to the Infidel. It also FORBIDS Muslims to befriend infidels, however it expressly suggest that to is OK to ACT like you're the infidels friend, to infiltrate & further the cause of Islam. Not all Muslims follow their BOOK as not all Christians follow their BOOK. But when their BOOK tells them to fake friendship & lie to me, how do I really know? I've met Muslims that I found intelligent & personable. I don't know if their were really my friend, or if their following their holy scriptures & just pretending to be my friend.
Stop all aid. When my house is worth more than $8 we can consider helping these idiots again.
so we finally agree on something '' i see ''.
Hmmmm......They are deporting them from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia? That's like deporting me from DC to Aruba....
This makes no sense. Were they free at some point to leave the country and they didn't?
Pakistan is saying that they were all in the country illegally...never had the right to be there
Wait a dad gum minute.....
What about Mr. Obama's Aunt and Uncle ? They never "had" a right to be in the United States since they are here Illegally and both ordered to be deported.
Wait another minute....they are STILL in the U.S. Maybe they will fall under Mr. Obama's umbrella to allow them to stay and they were just "waiting" on Mr. Obama to issue "new procedures" through the DHS with his "shadow government" bypassing Congressional procedures. Yep, Mr. Obama is (??) an American citizen therefore all his relatives will be allowed to obtain citizenship under his "new procedures".
Repeat:
Too bad the paks didn't deport OBL many years ago..this is why I never got Bush's fantsy with Iraq...the terrorists were in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan...Bush kissed up to three of these terrorist nations and let the paks keep terrorism alive...
Once outside Pakistan, bin Laden's relatives could reveal details about how the world's most wanted man was able to hide in U.S. ally Pakistan for years, possibly assisted by elements of the country's powerful military and spy agency.
Was Pakistan secretly hosting O and the Bins all these years? Is Pakistan's response "tardy"? Or does the above detail explain more clearly why they were oh-so-slow in releasing them?
Until Bin Ladn was dead, it was all a big secret. The details, once out of Pakistan, could be rather awkward.
Maybe we'll understand how Bin Ladn could hide "undetected" within a mile of a major Pakistani military facility--or whether assurance of his protection by them was the whole point.
Workin' on mysteries without any clues, Ain't it funny how the Night moves, When you just don't have that much to lose; With autumn closin' in.
Night Moves, Bob Seger
Apparently the city of Dearborn , MI has a neighborhood for them.
So now that their "hero" is gone they dont want a widow and kids to sponge off their system so they deport them. How classic.
They should have gotten 20 years for harboring a major criminal.
They should have gotten 20 years for harboring a major criminal.
bring them here!
Don't worry, Obama's probably working on it.
ummm ... NOT!
Actually, it is only in the last few years, since Obama took office, that we actively resumed pursuing Bin Ladin. Bush admitted himself he did not consider it a priority, no longer cared if we captured or killed Bin Ladin anymore, and scaled back any search for Bin Ladin.
It was Obama's campaign promise, kept, that resulted in Bin Ladin eventually being brought to justice.
You have no clue how intelligence works beyond what you see in 24 or NCIS or whatever. It takes YEARS to establish human contacts and informers, especially within a religious group. You think Obama just set all that up in a year or so and Viola! There's that golden nugget right there for everyone to see? It took years of trying to get people to give information and then getting them into the right places and then shifting through all of the incoming data from human and other sources. But of course you think all of that just happened overnight. The President may or may not "care" but the analysts will continue to pursue something like this.
JJ, Obama had been President for 3 years when Bin Laden was killed. Reports say it took about a year and a half to gather enough intelligence for Bin Laden to be located. So, it did happen in Obama's watch.
raddave - I see you don't have a clue either and didn't bother to read very closely. How long do you think it took to get the HUMINT assets in place to get those final pieces of intel or do you think we knew all along he was in that particular town so all Obama had to do was concentrate on that one town? While a lot of effort was focused on Pakistan they could not ignore the rest of the world as a place to hide and ALL of that intel had to be scrutinized. Assets had to be developed in other places where there was a possibility he was hiding. All of that takes MANY years to get into place.
If you are giving total credit for everything that happens on someone's watch then you have to give total blame as well. Thank the current President for the unemployment rates, the poor economy, and everything else bad that happens "on his watch" then.
JJMurray, I am results-oriented and go by results. It is a matter of public record Bush neglected finding Bin Laden.
Obama is the one who charged Panetta with the high-priority of getting Bin Ladin.
No amount of spin you come up with, no distraction about other issues can overcome that truth. It is what it is
LOL sure Obama is the hero. I guess you expected President Bush to nationally announce the plans that were going on to capture Bin Ladin? Sometimes people don't and shouldn't know everything going on by our government. But for some of us that do know behind the lines, Obama only got in on the end of the capture. At the time in 2002, President Bush had a war on his hands and his country to protect, which he stated and was quoted many times. So yeah, Bin Ladin was not priority at that time. As for his wives, I hope they check them often for suicide vests when they are in route traveling.
Spin however you will. These statements speak for themselves:
well, the pakis are trying to look pretty now that they stand stark naked, and their jackpot is gone.
they can do what they want with bin laden wife ; the guy is finally dead , and we got our man. nothing they can do now to impress me , '' BUT GIVE ALL THE MONEY THEY SWINDLED OUT OF THE USA BACK '' !!!!!!!
so let me get this straight. found guilty of being in the country illegally, so we're going to jail them IN THE COUNTRY, for another 45 days BEFORE deporting them. Those paki's are a bunch of f*cking idiots.
Hey, we just let them go and tell them to come back at a future date when we can arrange deportation. What kind of idiots are we?
joe...they were just covering themselves by that 45 day sentence...family might sue them if no jail sentence applied...45 day sentencing was actually a smart move on the part of the Pakistani courts
JJ, since being in this country illegally is not a criminal offense, we can't put them in jail.
raddave - We can hold them until we deport them. I never said it was a criminal offense but we ARE allowed to detain and deport.
I'm surprised our State department didn't offer to take them in and grant them citizenship.
Would you like to sit this one out and let the grown-ups speak?
Toasty - Let me know when your mother gets on the keyboard then.
I have come to the rational conclusion that American citizen are the casualty in the "dumification" carried out by ignorant and intellectually weak news media and politician. The America news media (Fox news and associate) openly present fox made up lies as news and the rest of news media carry it as news rather than boldly calling it a lie for what it is. While the politician also openly go on the news media and just spew out unsubstantial statement as fact without the news media calling them on it. The news media are single-handedly destroying America democracy and the rest of the world is already looking else for leadership. American kind of democracy is gradually failing not because of the system is bad rather the politician and the news media a re failing in their duty as leaders and news men and women. As observer of history, great civilization fails not because the system is bad but rather they fail because the people fail to live up to the ideal of their values. the politics of hatred and demonising one another is not a human value let an American value. falsification of news fact is not a journalistic value let alone an American value and the world is watching. I am neither a democrat or a republican but by watching this presidential race it is obviously clear that all the republican presidential candidate go out their and say many egregious and lunatic lies without the news media calling them. Listen to Mitt and Gingrich; Obama apologise to..!..Death panel..Obama war on churches!!! The news media should ask them to whom and when and how? The job of the news media is to hold this politician accountable rather than aiding them with their lies because it is to the detriment of the society at large. The "dumification" and the destruction of the America democracy start with Rupert Molduch control of half of the major news outlet and the pondering politician this will only lead to America lost decades. American needs politician that will say the truth (not Mitt sorry) and news media that report and remain focus on the TRUTH. America political system is still the the best in the world but the politician and the news media are gradually exposing themselves as the worst kind to emulate. Its a shame!!!
WOW, what a stiff penalty, $110 fine and 45 days in jail.
I'm never going to illegally go to Pakistan.
The most shocking this about this all is that you all still dont realize 9-11 was an inside job. Amazing.
It's called being willfully ignorant. They can't even begin to accept that possibility or their little bubble might be in danger. I love that this article used the terminology "staged a decade-long hunt" instead of "conducted" or "oversaw". And yes, Dubya had a war on his hands in '02 because he STARTED one. We HAD to invade Iraq to stop Saddam from using weapons that we already knew he didn't have. We HAD to invade Afghanistan to catch terrorists we already knew weren't there. More weapons of mass distraction that the willfully ignorant have accepted so they don't have to face the uncomfortable truth.
yeh sure they did'nt know THE WIFES were in town.... still tryin to seel that bridge?
bin ladens widows sentenced to 45 days in jail. these women have been ''in jail'' all of their lives. they have most likely never made one single decision regarding any aspect of their lives. if they are guilty of anything it's being born a woman in a culture that has no respect for women. they are victims being victimized one more time. sad-------
I hear the lefties are very upset at the treatment of UBL's wives and are trying to bring them into the US and have their hollywood dummy friends give them their own reality show. "The Real Housewives of Usoma Bin Laden". Tune in to NBC for the 2013 season!