After the Saudi authorities refused to repatriate both the widows of Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader’s family is likely to be sent to Yemen as both women with Saudi origin have decided to seek political asylum in Yemen, Pakistan Today learnt on Thursday. An official source said Pakistani authorities had contacted the Saudi embassy for the repatriation of both the widows of Osama, Umm-e-Hamza and Umm-e-Khalid, but they declined to accept them. He said later the officials contacted Yemen’s authorities and now both the women would formally apply for political asylum to Yemen. The source said since no one had contacted the authorities for the body of bin Laden’s son, Khalid bin Laden, they had decided to bury him in Pakistan on a temporary basis. “The burial may take place before the departure of the widows of Osama who wanted their son to be buried in their presence,” the source added. Bin Laden’s two Saudi wives, one Yemeni wife and several children were captured on May 2 by Pakistani intelligence agencies after US commandoes left his compound in Abbottabad.
Al-Sadeh, 29, was married to bin Laden in 2000 when she was 18 as his fifth wife and was brought to Kandahar to join her husband. Al-Sadeh was shot in the leg by US soldiers when she tried to defend her husband during the May 2 raid on his hideout in Abbottabad. The other two captured wives have been identified as Umm-e-Hamza and Umm-e-Khalid. Per Arabic tradition, a mother is named as the mother of the eldest son. Umm-e-Hamza might be the mother of bin Laden’s eldest son, Hamza bin Laden, a potential future head of al Qaeda.
Umm-e-Khalid might be the mother of Osama’s son, Khalid, who was killed in the US operation together with his father. Pakistan has been making efforts to repatriate bin Laden’s widows and children back to their respective countries. Though no official is ready to comment on the record about fate of the bin laden family, Pakistan’s deputy ambassador to Yemen, Diyar Khan, had told reporters that bin Laden’s family would be sent back to their home countries after the completion of initial inquiries.
