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Pakistan commission bars bin Laden family leaving | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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ISLAMABAD, (AFP) — A Pakistani commission set up to investigate how Osama bin Laden lived undetected for so long in the country has ordered the government not to repatriate the dead Al-Qaeda leader’s family.

Pakistan took custody of his Yemeni and two Saudi widows, as well as their children after US Navy SEALs killed bin Laden and flew off with his body from their home in the military town of Abbottabad on May 2.

Pakistan has always said the relatives would be repatriated and a Pakistani security official recently confirmed to AFP that the youngest widow, Amal Abdulfattah, could return to Yemen within days.

But the high-level four-member commission said no family member could leave without its prior consent.

“The ministry of interior and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) have been directed to ensure that the family of Osama Bin Laden is not repatriated from Pakistan without the consent of the commission,” it said late Tuesday.