Bin Laden Wives Not Tied To Terror, Says Saudi Arabia

Osama bin Laden is seen in this image broadcast Wednesday, April, 17, 2002, by the London-based Middle East Broacasting Corp. (AP Photo/MBC via APTN)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia has no evidence that Osama bin Laden's wives and family members deported from Pakistan have been involved in terrorism, an official Saudi statement said Sunday in an indication that authorities will allow the group to remain in the kingdom.

The statement also provided more details of the secrecy-shrouded arrival of the late al-Qaida leader's family, saying they were met in the Red Sea city of Jiddah by other members of bin Laden's extended clan. Pakistan said the 14-member group, including three of bin Laden's widows and their children, were deported Friday after weeks of negotiations.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency, citing an "official source," said there "is no information or evidence of the family's involvement or participation in any criminal or illegal acts."

It added that the deportations were handled on "humanitarian, legal and religious" grounds, further suggesting the kingdom would allow the group to remain. One of the widows is Yemeni and the other two are Saudi citizens.

On Friday, relatives of bin Laden's Yemeni widow, Amal Ahmed Abdel-Fatah al-Sada, said she had received assurances from Saudi officials that she and her five children could remain in the kingdom. The relative spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Bin Laden was killed in a May 2, 2011, raid on his compound in Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs.

His widows were later interrogated by Pakistani intelligence agents and convicted – along with two adult daughters – of illegally entering and living in the country. Their 45-day prison term, which was spent at a closely guarded house in Islamabad, ended earlier this month.

Saudi Arabia stripped bin Laden of his citizenship in 1994 because of his denunciations of the Saudi royal family, but Sunday's statement suggested his wives and families would not be effected by the decision.

The bin Laden family is one of the most prominent in Saudi Arabia, with close ties to the royal family and a fortune rooted in a construction business started by Osama's father. The family largely distanced itself from the late al-Qaida leader years ago.

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[oceanwalker100]

09:19 AM on 04/30/2012

Saudi Arabia as more terrorist in it than Iran,here do you think Al Qaeda get their money from.they are all Muslim,s Goversments.All ranon barbaric systems .IT is time for the USA to leave the middle east.Ask why the USA keeps giving them millions a year to keep an army,when their leaders are rich,and as freinds in the USA who are rich.

[Saudi Medic]

08:05 AM on 04/30/2012

They will be treated as heros upon their return to the Kingdom, The support of BinLaden is very strong in the Kingdom. Despite what the Saudi goverment say. I read about the celebrations the Saudis had after 9/11. It was in a book written by an American Paramedic who worked for King Abdullah. It is called "Paramedic to the Prince" The best insight into the Kingdom I have read in years.

[Nightling]

12:20 AM on 04/30/2012

Seriously guys, consider the facts. This was a man who believed if a woman knew how to read she should be stoned to death. They didn't exactly choose to be married to him. In fact I'm surprrised they hadn't killed themselves to escape him.

[Ted Martin]

11:38 PM on 04/29/2012

Of course not, they were too busy helping the Red Cross...

[Nancy Carrita]

08:25 PM on 04/29/2012

wow, i thought I had ''bad taste'' in men.......

[Tim Day]

07:17 PM on 04/29/2012

Ummmm, really....When I was married I couldn't leave the yard without telling my wife

[bigpapapuff425]

08:42 PM on 04/29/2012

Lol!! F&F for truth,

[Rollin McKim]

08:53 PM on 04/29/2012

well, then, good thing you're no longer so yard bound?

[Tim Day]

09:20 PM on 04/29/2012

In a strange twist of Irony ...I still am, I became disabled in 2006 and am in a wheelchair....Still beat asking to leave the yard..haha

[commento]

06:58 PM on 04/29/2012

Bin Laden wives not tied to terror, according to Saudi Arabia. That's true. They just happened to be married to a terrorist.

[rav1267]

08:42 PM on 04/29/2012

She knew who she was she marrying too, She might not be involve with terrorism but she was so close to it.

[martharadarears]

09:36 PM on 04/29/2012

She may not have had any choice in whom she married.

[dekendall]

08:55 PM on 04/29/2012

Kind of like an Ozzie and Hariet moment I suppose. I expect a hollywood sitcom any day now.

[bjhmger]

06:25 PM on 04/29/2012

R u kidding me? Saudi Arabia has a lot of nerve to say that. Did they give birth to his children? Did they feed the terrorist? What a joke....

[martharadarears]

09:37 PM on 04/29/2012

Women are fourth-class citizens in Muslim countries, a fact which would scandalize Mohammed.

[yauxeybalba]

05:50 PM on 04/29/2012

I guess if the Saudis and thepaks say so, then it must be true.

[oldgeek1]

05:49 PM on 04/29/2012

Wives not tied to terror? In what Universe

[code2high]

06:41 PM on 04/29/2012

You forget... they were mere women. It is not a culture where women are treated as partners. So although they may have been physically with the terrorists, they may not have had... and in fact probably did not have... an operational role in the organization.

[califcrankshaft]

05:15 PM on 04/29/2012

LOL, Sure they arn't ! and I have some beach front land in New Mexico I want to sell you if you believe this !

[martharadarears]

09:41 PM on 04/29/2012

Can't you understand that they had NO SAY-SO even about the details of their own lives?

[mjames5464]

05:12 PM on 04/29/2012

sure....they were at home baking cookies and going to PTA meetings while their husband was out planning terror attacks and day tripping thru Pakistan...

[martharadarears]

09:39 PM on 04/29/2012

They couldn't go to PTA meetings. They couldn't go anywhere unless a man took them. Their daughters couldn't go to school. There probably wasn't a PTA. You can't, apparently, imagine the lives these women lived. They were slaves, not wives.

[abruin]

05:01 PM on 04/29/2012

and you can believe saudi arabia??????????????? get a grip fools.

[JamesScott]

06:42 PM on 04/29/2012

We have no choice. Even more than their oil, we want them to keep denominating their oil in our dollars, lest our currency collapse. If they say it's so, we have to accept it. I don't LIKE it, but there are bigger concerns than Osama's wives.

[Rollin McKim]

08:50 PM on 04/29/2012

drivel

[mhwyman7]

04:21 PM on 04/29/2012

Lets take them on a nice little airplane ride.

[mhwyman7]

04:08 PM on 04/29/2012

I'm sure they'll make the cover of Good Housekeeping.