Osama's widows face jail terms after being charged for 'illegally entering' Pakistan

Islamabad, Mar 9 (ANI): Three widows of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US Navy SEALS in May last year, have been charged by Pakistan with illegally entering the country.

The BBC quoted Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik, as saying that the women, reported to be two Saudis and a Yemeni, had been charged, but did not specify the hearing date.

The wives and about 10 children were taken into custody last May when US commandos raided their safe house. The trio had been living in the compound in Abbottabad that US Navy SEALS attacked, killing Bin Laden.

Malik said the women had entered the country illegally, and there were also "several incidents involving deception and forgery".

He told reporters in Islamabad that "only the adults had been charged," and the children were free to return to their native countries if their mothers agreed.

Currently, the women and their children are being held at a house which had been "declared a sub-jail", Malik said.

Legal experts say they could face a maximum of five years of jail term.

Last June, a Pakistani commission was charged with investigating how the al-Qaeda leader had managed to stay in Pakistan undetected.

The commission said his wives should not be allowed to leave the country until they had been interviewed.

Despite having a 25 million dollars bounty on his head for his role in organising the 9/11 attacks on the US, Bin Laden managed to live in the Abbottabad compound with his wives and children for nearly five years. (ANI)