Osama’s family entrance in Saudi Arabia on humanitarian grounds: report

By Farhad Arian Apr 29th, 2012 ( No Comment )

Jeddah: The family of Osama bin Laden has been allowed to enter the kingdom on humanitarian grounds, Saudi state media reported.

The former al Qaeda leader was killed by US special forces last year in a controversial raid last year. His family was in detention of Pakistani security forces since then.

Pakistan deported the three widows and children of slain al Qaeda leader last Thursday.

“Travel arrangements of Osama bin Laden’s family were facilitated based on the request of Bin Laden’s family in Saudi Arabia,” the official said.

“Saudi Arabia dealt with the matter on a humanitarian, legal and administrative basis,” said the report.

The widows were formally arrested in Pakistan on March 3 on account of illegal entrance in the country and were sentenced to 45 days.

It was not mentioned in the report, however, that how many family members had arrived in the kingdom but previous reports suggested that three widows, seven children and four grandchildren had been deported.

Their movements are followed closely by security officials because once outside Pakistan, they could shed some light on how the al Qaeda leader managed to hide inside Pakistan for so long, Reuters reported.

Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted the Saudi official as saying however that “it was not appropriate to intrude on the privacy of the bin Laden family in the kingdom in any way”.