Closing the chapter: Bin Laden’s wives ‘free to leave Pakistan’

OBL’s Saudi wives regain native citizenship, set to return to their homeland.

Two wives of Osama bin Laden, held in Pakistan after the May 2 raid in that killed their husband, are set to return to their homeland of Saudi Arabia, the Guardian reported Pakistani officials as saying.

A third wife will not travel back to her native land, Yemen, after authorities refused to accept her but may instead be offered a new home in Qatar, the Gulf emirate, a source in the Pakistani interior ministry was quoted.

All three women were detained by Pakistani military personnel after the May 2 raid in Abbottabad during which Bin Laden was killed. Around a dozen children were also taken into Pakistani custody.

According to the officials and Saudi press reports, the two Saudi-born wives, Khairiah Sabar and Siham Sabar, recently had their Saudi citizenship restored, a move which would allow their return, possibly as early as next week.

Khairiah married Bin Laden in 1985 and Siham, in 1987. When bin Laden was stripped of his citizenship in 1994, the two women, both college graduates, also lost theirs.

Inquiry complete

With an official Pakistani inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the raid now complete, the women were free to go, the Pakistani officials said.

“We have been working with the Saudi officials since the [Pakistani] Judicial Commission on [the Abbottabad raid] interviewed the Bin Laden widows.

“The Saudi government has agreed to accept his children and two wives, and we are working on logistical arrangements now,” one senior source said, requesting anonymity.

Eight children of the late al-Qaida leader would travel with the women, the official added.

Middle Eastern diplomats in Islamabad confirmed that a “resolution” had been reached in discussions over the repatriation of the wives but did not disclose any timetable.

However, there been no official confirmation from Riyadh, and the Saudi ambassador in Pakistan has told local reporters he has no knowledge of any forthcoming transfer.

Family lobbied Saudi royals

Recent Saudi press reports have claimed that authorities had restored the citizenship of the two women, both born in Jeddah, after members of their families and that of their late husband lobbied senior Saudi royals.

Officials in Riyadh told the Guardian earlier this year that, at least theoretically, there was no objection to the women’s return to Saudi Arabia.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2011.