Osama's wives, kids remanded in judicial custody for 9 days

Islamabad, Mar 18: Slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's family members, including his three widows, have been remanded in judicial custody for nine days by a Pakistani court.

Bin Laden's youngest wife, Yemeni national Amal Abdulfattah, and her five children were among those remanded in judicial custody on Saturday.

Abdulfattah was with bin Laden in a compound in Abbottabad where he was killed by US special forces in May last year.

Her brother Zakarya Ahmad Abdulfattah has hired lawyer Muhammad Aamir to represent his sister and her children.

The trial of bin Laden's family members will be held at a house in Islamabad where they have been detained, official sources said.

The house was recently declared a sub-jail by Islamabad's Chief Commissioner Tariq Mehmood Pirzada. The sources said bin Laden's family would not be brought

to a civil court for security reasons.

Civil Judge Shah Rukh Arjuman visited the house where the trial will be held.

Bin Laden's family members have been charged with illegally entering and living in Pakistan. They were shifted to Islamabad on March 4.

Fourteen family members of bin Laden, including three widows and eight children, are among those detained.

The security establishment was humiliated by the American covert raid that killed bin Laden in a compound located close to elite Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad, where he lived for five years.

PTI