bin Laden home
Reports indicate that some of bin Laden's family members were fearful one of his wives would rat him out to American forces, while the three wives who were arrested from his Abbottabad compound are being put on trial in Pakistan. Reuters

Osama bin Laden's three widows have been charged with illegally entering and living in Pakistan.

The women, along with a number of bin Laden's children, were detained by Pakistan authorities after the U.S. raid on the terrorist leaders' Abbottabad compound in May.

They [the wives] were presented before the court. After that, they are on judicial remand, and are being kept in a proper, legal manner, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Thursday.

Cases have been registered against the adults, not the children.

Two of the wives are from Saudi Arabia, like their husband, and the third is from Yemen. They have been held by a special Pakistani police commission and interrogated about how bin Laden was able to enter and stay in the country for five years.

Earlier reports suggested that the women would be deported, but with no trial date known, they could be in Pakistan for some time to come.

The children are currently being kept in a house “with proper facilities as if they were in their own home,” and will be sent home if their mothers request it, Malik noted.

Zakaria al-Sada, the brother of bin Laden’s widow Amal al-Sada, has condemned the treatment of the women in custody, and said in January that the housing conditions are worse than Pakistani authorities made them seem.

“The house admits no sunlight at all, the detainees are in a very bad psychological condition, and my sister has not recovered from her leg injury,” Sada said, according to Al Arabiya News.

“I want the issue to be given more attention especially that there are no legal grounds at all for detaining them ... The dignity of the women should be maintained.

Al arabiya Court Al arabiya Pakistan