Bin Laden’s Wives Set to Return to Saudi Arabia

Two wives of Osama bin Laden, who have been held in Pakistan following the raid in May that killed the former head of al Qaeda, are set to return to their homeland of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Gazette reported that Pakistani officials have said Bin Laden's two Saudi-born wives, Khairiah Sabar and Siham Sabar, recently had their Saudi citizenship reinstated.

The late al Qaeda leader was stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994, which resulted in the two women losing theirs as well.

As the investigation surrounding the raid is now over, officials have said they will soon be able to head back to their homeland.

"We have been working with the Saudi officials since the Pakistani Judicial Commission on the Abbottabad raid interviewed the Bin Laden widows. The Saudi government has agreed to accept his children and two wives, and we are working on logistical arrangements now," a Pakistani official told The Guardian on condition of anonymity.

A third wife, Yemeni-born Amal Ahmed al Sadah, was also detained by Pakistani authorities after the U.S.-led raid. Officials reportedly said she is now expected to head to Qatar after Yemeni authorities refused to accept her in the country.

Bin Laden married six times times. His first wife, Najwa Ghanem, was a Syrian national who left him just weeks before the 9/11 attacks, returning to her homeland from Afghanistan, where they had been living.

The Saudi-born terrorist's second wife was Saudi-national Khadijah Sharif, whom he married in 1983 and divorced in 1990.

He also married Khairia in 1985, Siham in 1987 and Amal in 2000. In 1994, he allegedly married another woman in Sudan, but reports suggest the marriage was annulled within 48 hours of the wedding - before it could be consummated.

The three wives who were arrested after the fatal raid had reportedly been living with Bin Laden at a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad for up to five years.

Eight of Bin Laden's children, who were also arrested and detained after the raid, are due to travel with the women, the official added.

It is not yet known whether his daughter Safiya, who is now believed to be 12, will be among those allowed to leave Pakistan. She reportedly witnessed the death of her father. Bin Laden had spoken highly of her, saying he hoped she would join the jihadist movement.