A Saudi official has been quoted as saying that the kingdom has allowed the widows and children of deceased Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to enter Saudi Arabia for "humanitarian" reasons.
The Saudi-owned "Asharq Al-Awsat" newspaper quoted an unnamed Saudi official as saying authorities were confident that none of the wives or children were involved in the terrorist operations of bin Laden.
Bin Laden's three widows and 11 children and grandchildren flew into Saudi on April 27 after being deported from Pakistan.
The widows -- two Saudis and one Yemeni -- had been sentenced to brief prison terms in Pakistan and deportation for entering and staying in Pakistan illegally.
They were detained by Pakistani authorities after bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2 last year.
