E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSThe wives and children of Osama bin Laden are taken to a chartered flight out of Islamabad after being deported to Saudi Arabia.
Updated 11:55 p.m. ET: The widows and children of slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden were deported from Pakistan early Friday, an Interior Ministry spokesman told NBC News.
Accompanied by a police escort, a mini-bus believed to be carrying them left the house where they had been detained and sped off toward the airport just after midnight, NBC's Amna Nawaz reported from Pakistan.
The government spokesman confirmed to NBC News producer Fakhar Rehman that 14 members of the family had been deported on court orders "to the country of their choice, Saudi Arabia." According to Al-Jazeera TV, the family members arrived in Saudi Arabia, apparently without incident.
A court had charged bin Laden's three widows and two daughters in early April with illegally staying in the country and sentenced them to 45 days in jail.
Abbottabad - One year after Osama bin Laden
On the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death, there have been no signs of plotting by any terrorist groups, but officials say there is always a concern that homegrown terrorists could do something on their own. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
They spent 14 days in prison – having been in detention since early March – before deportation to their home countries, including Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Bin Laden widows sentenced to jail, deportation from Pakistan
NBC News learned that a Saudi plane had been waiting to transport the family members from Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport.
Earlier, 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.
The family was detained by Pakistani authorities following the May 2, 2011 American raid on the compound in Abbottabad that left bin Laden dead.
Courtesy: Zakaria al Sadah
In this photo, taken in Pakistan, Amal and Osama bin Laden's three youngest children (on the right) stand beside three of bin Laden's grandchildren (on the left).
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have issued a bulletin addressing the potential for terrorist attacks to mark the upcoming anniversary of bin Laden's death, according to a report by CBS New York on Thursday.
The bulletin warned of "renewed efforts to target western aviation" and the threat from "lone wolf" terrorists, but said there wasn’t any credible specific threats, the report said.
Meanwhile, an Afghan soldier fatally shot an American service member and a local interpreter in southern Afghanistan, officials said Thursday, the latest in a string of attacks against U.S. and other foreign forces by their Afghan partners.
In the east, three U.S. service members were killed in a bomb attack.
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- At least three killed as two bombs hit Nigeria newspaper offices
- Aiding terrorists? Syrian women risk all to help dissidents
- Murdoch: Hacking scandal cost 'hundreds of millions'
- Analysts say North Korea's new missiles are fakes
- Pakistan PM Yusuf Raza Gilani found guilty of contempt by Supreme Court
- Ex-Liberia President Charles Taylor guilty in 'watershed' war-crimes case
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Leave a Comment:
Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you future terrorists and Islamic extremists.
Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to a terrorist, bwaller78.
I guess this is a way of making the bin Laden family a marked target, making sure all lunatics who drank the Cheney/Bush kool-aid knows exactly where they are going.
I am surprised our government isn't bringing them here and giving them asylum, since we whacked the hubby. What's a few more??
Goes to show what great "friends" the Saudis are. And the Pakistanis are no better. They hid him in plain sight and now we give them still cash? Why don't we just pay the Indians if they will promise to nuke Pakistan and Iran at the same time. Take care of both problems in one fell swoop. I'm sure India would be down with that.
Who gives a-@!$%#?
Were do they go to with red carpet rolled out Saudi our allies were alot of our foriegn aid goes and were the 9-11 sycho's came from hmmm. you all still believe in foriegn aid doing us any good?Bring our troops home and put all foriegn aid towards our debt instead.
Heard Obama felt bad and had to do something so he set them up with a 7-11.
They are just children.
Too bad this nice looking family could not have gone to a country that does not have a history of breeding terrorists. I think we should be concerned about this fact. Will they be received as heros? Probably. Will they be subject to the propaganda that their father or husband taught or will they have an opportunity to learn the truth about the world order. Crazy as it may seem, the US, Canada, Israel, or another modern nation should have taken them in. I would rather have them in my neighborhood, then in Saudi Arabia
They are only children.
they are only children
not for long. this will bite everyone in the a** in a few years!
I would rather have this family in my neighborhood in the USA then in Saudi Arabia.
They are too young to be spit at with your ugly words!!! ..I think they deserve a chance like any kid; to not live in the shadow of their parents . Most of you might look at your own situations first... Guess whose kids could grow up to be radical Christians,killers or vampires.. sucking the life at of the system?? or just another member of the tattooed, beer guzzling, fast food nation thats love for money far outweighs are need to be present and loving to our own kids. Maybe your kids will overcome your brain washing and neglect!!! Children need to be treated with respect and kindness ..no matter where they are from!!
Why would any woman want a life with a terrorist? Why would you breed with such ignorance?
No choice! A bride isn't even allowed to attend her own wedding.
Heck. Children of the kkk and hateful are America's cancer today. Educate the children they are our future.
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. The Bush Family loves dem Bin Ladens & The Saudi Royals.
Old Bin sure made some ugly kids. Lets hope none of the future American haters take up flying.
The children are beautiful. As are all children, until they are taught hatred by their parents. This applies to Americans also.
slightly old's comments reflect someone with very dim lights!
no, slightly has a bit more respect than you two.
I am surprised that they aren't being taken in by Dubya; remember how tight he was with the Saudi Arabian royals, who are Wahabist terrorists, and how he was such close friends and business partners with the Bin Laden family? You'd think that since Dubya brought the first Koran into the white house, installing it in the library (and making him, by default, the first Muslim president), that he would want this adopted Muslim family to live with him.
I like the warnings about attacks that come with no info. It's like a favorite line from American Dad when Stan says we have to be on high alert as something somewhere at some time may happen. Nice fear mongering
I have a couple questions.
-Why are OBL's children younger than his grandchildren?
-I also would like to ask his wives how they feel about OBL going after those 72 virgins. His wives are going to kill him when they get to the same hot spot OBL is.
I also think I picked up on an important historical facts that lead to a unique conclusion:
I now believe the hatred and mistrust many middle easterners has for the US stemmed from Nazi's coercing the middle eastern extremists to join up against the Jewish and US in the WWII. This is why folks like Ahmadinejad believes the Holocaust never happened. There was a really cool documentary linking Muslim extremists (including the Baath party, OBL, and Husein) with the Nazi regime. Or does their hatred go all the way back to the crusades from Europe. In either case, it seems like an outdated grudge.
Where does the root of the hatred come from? Can't we all get along?
Talk about ugly! Never would blend in anywhere except at the circus side show for Islamic freaks. Let's see, I wonder what they would say if some guy came up and started shooting them, chasing down the little gird and shooting her in the head, in the name of God, as what was done in France? These people are the enemies of mankind. Too bad they can't receive some of the same treatment they have given others.
Darrell. where is your photo. A little jealous aren't you?
Nope, just truthful.
Osama bin Ladin - his main concern was maintaining his power and control over those who followed him. After the fall of the USSR, he needed to find a new enemy, so why not the USA? Keeping control of those who followed him like sheep and keeping his power was all he cared about.
Bush's wars have already killed more Americans' children than 9/11 did.
Yes and your saying we should let them keep flying planes into buildings of our cities too! I'm sure that was the attitude while Hitler cooked the Jews too!
Darrell, where is your photo. Jealous much
If you made any sense, I might have an answer for you, like what would you have to be jealous for?
I was as glad as anybody that our Seal Team got Osama bin Laden, and I was glad to hear how he was buried at sea; the ocean is good with recycling organic waste.
But, it is more than time that the wives and per-adolescent children be released.