Illegal stay: Court convicts Bin Laden widows, orders deportation

After the imprisonment, the family will be deported to their respective countries – Saudi Arabia and Yemen.


Obaid Abbasi April 03, 2012

ISLAMABAD:


A court on Monday convicted Osama bin Laden’s three widows and two of his grown-up daughters of illegal residency under the Foreigners Act, sentencing them to 45 days detention and ordering their deportation.


The district court proceedings lasted three hours, presided over by Senior Civil Judge Shahrukh Arjumand in a makeshift court set-up in the plush house where Bin Laden’s family is living and where they will serve out their sentences.

Police commandos barricaded the main gate of the two-storey house and policemen could be seen on the first floor by journalists, confined to the opposite side of the road in the leafy Sector G6 of Islamabad.

Defence lawyer Muhammad Aamir told The Express Tribune after the proceedings that the 45-day sentence would date back to March 3, when they were formally arrested, and that the deportation process could be completed within two weeks.

“The interior secretary has been directed to arrange their deportation,” Aamir said. “I think it will be completed probably in two weeks,” he added. Aamir said the accused were ‘all in good health’ and said that they had all spoken during Monday’s proceedings.

Zakarya Ahmad Abd al-Fattah, the Yemeni brother of Bin Laden’s youngest and reputedly favourite wife, Amal Ahmad Abd al-Fattah, said the judge also imposed a fine of Rs10,000 each, which he said had already been paid.

“The court has also given direction to the government to arrange the necessary documents for their earliest repatriation, so that they can go to their own country as soon as possible,” he told reporters.

Amal was also charged under section 419 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for cheating and not providing her real identity, said Khalid Naeem, Assistant Director (legal) Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Bin Laden’s two other wives have been identified as Khairiah Sabar and Siham Sabar. The three women have an undisclosed number of children among them, but only those above 12 were charged.

Bin Laden’s three wives and two daughters had been booked by the FIA under the Foreigners Act related to abetting a culprit, making fake identity, taking illegal asylum and unlawfully residing in the country.

(Read: Bin Laden’s ‘exploits’)

(Additional input from AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3rd, 2012.

COMMENTS (1)

Cautious | 11 years ago | Reply

How long have they been in your custody? All this rigamarole for a 45 day sentence? Who do you think your fooling?

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