Bin Laden's Family Deported From Pakistan

Osama bin Laden's three widows and children have been deported from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia, less than a week before the first anniversary of the American raid that killed the al Qaeda leader.

US commandos took bin Laden's body, which they later buried at sea, but left his family behind.

They were detained by Pakistani authorities immediately after the pre-dawn raid in Abottabad on May 2, 2011.

They were charged last month with illegally entering and living in the country and the three wives and two adult daughters were convicted and sentenced to 45 days in prison.

The prison term was spent at a well-guarded house in Islamabad.

Late on Thursday night a van took the women and 11 children from the house in the centre of the capital to the airport where they boarded a private aircraft.

A statement from the Interior Ministry said 14 members of the bin Laden family had been deported to the "country of their choice, Saudi Arabia".

Two of the widows are from Saudi Arabia, and the third is from Yemen.

Saudi officials have given little information about the family and the plan to deport them.

The country stripped bin Laden of his citizenship in 1994 because of his verbal attacks against the Saudi royal family, and there have been questions about whether the country would accept the women.

Once outside Pakistan, the wives may be willing to share any information they have about how bin Laden managed to evade capture in the country for nearly a decade following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in the US has denied a freedom of information request to release photos and video taken of bin Laden during and after the raid last year.

Replying to the request by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, the judge upheld the government's ruling that all such material should remain classified.