The expected deportation of Osama bin Laden’s family from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia has been delayed because their passports were not ready, their lawyer said Wednesday.
The 12 member family, including bin Laden’s three widows, eight children and one grandchild had originally been due to leave overnight.
Lawyer Muhammad Aamir told AFP they were expected to receive their passports later on Wednesday and may be able to leave for Saudi Arabia later in the day.
Pakistani officials made no immediate comment on the issue.
The 9/11 mastermind’s three widows and their children were detained by Pakistani authorities after bin Laden was killed in a US special forces operation in the garrison town of Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, last May.
Earlier this month, a court sentenced the widows and two of bin Laden’s older daughters to 45 days’ detention on charges of illegal entry and residency in Pakistan and ordered their deportation as soon as possible.
They completed the sentence on Tuesday, counting time already served since they were formally arrested on March 3.
“They were scheduled to leave Pakistan for Saudi Arabia late Tuesday but the problem in completing their travel documents delayed the departure”, Aamir said.
Aamir said on Tuesday bin Laden’s youngest and reportedly favourite wife, Amal Abdulfattah, who is Yemeni, may be sent to Yemen with her five children.
On Tuesday, a Pakistani intelligence official told AFP that the whole family was expected to be flown to Saudi Arabia.
A number of Saudi diplomats have visited Pakistan in recent weeks to work out the details of the deportation, sources say.