Pakistan: 45 days in jail for widows of bin Laden

The three widows of Osama bin Laden and two of his daughters were sentenced Monday to 45 days in jail for "illegal stay" in Pakistan. Islamabad will then proceed to their deportation to their countries: Yemen and Saudi Arabia.



Arrested on March 3 for "illegal entry and stay" on Pakistani territory, the three widows, and an uncertain number of children and grandchildren of bin Laden, were kept under house arrest in Islamabad. And since May 2, 2011, the U.S. military raid that killed the leader of al Qaeda and his two adult son in a fortified house in Abbottabad, north of Pakistan.



"The judge said a prison sentence of one month and a half for the five accused. It also imposed on each a fine of 10,000 rupees (82 euros), "said their lawyer Muhammad Aamir Monday. That banks will 14 days detention because they have already served part of their sentence since early March.



Amal Abdulfattah, 30, wife of Yemeni origin of bin Laden, was present the day of the assault and had been shot in the foot. The question of why nobody knew where the old was hiding a number of al-Qaeda for so many years and had then asked the latter began to give some answers. The youngest wife of the instigator of the September 11th attacks had said he lived with his family for five years in the house in Abbottabad where he was killed. She also said that bin Laden had lived in five different houses during his mare in Pakistan, where he was since 2002.



Experts said Islamabad had hoped that widows are sentenced to more severe penalties to prevent them from giving details of their stay in Pakistan. The ISI, the Pakistani secret service, including a report made public on March 29 the interrogation of the young woman, desperate to prevent the testimony of the widows are collected by the CIA. The Pakistani government fears they particularly relate how Osama bin Laden has managed to hide for so long. But they fear even more than is revealed the identity of persons and services to assist him in his travels. If the Pakistani government and army have denied having helped former number one al-Qaeda, these revelations could darken relations between Islamabad and Washington, together since 2001 in the war against terrorism.