EDITORS PLEASE NOTE, EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Osama bin Laden's three widows have all been charged with illegal entry and stay in the country.

(SOUNDBITE) (Urdu/English) PAKISTANI INTERIOR MINISTER, REHMAN MALIK, SAYING:

"The legal experts and the experts from FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) decided that they (bin Laden family) should be dealt with according to law. Therefore, a case has been registered against them under Pakistani law. They were presented before the court. After that they are on judicial remand, and they are being kept in a proper legal manner."

The al Qaeda leader was killed in a secret raid by U.S. special forces in May last year after a decade-long manhunt.

His three wives and an undisclosed number of children were among the 16 people detained by Pakistani authorities after the raid.

According to the Pakistani foreign ministry, two of the wives are Saudi nationals, and one is from Yemen.

Pakistan had previously said that it would repatriate the women to their home countries after a government commission probing the raid had completed its questioning.

Sophia Soo, Reuters.