Bethany Alhaidari could also face the death penalty if she is forced to return to the kingdom with her eight-year-old daughter, according to a human rights group.
An American activist who fled Saudi Arabia in 2019 risks being forced to return her daughter to the kingdom through a US court due to an ongoing custody dispute.
Bethany Alhaidari is scheduled to appear in court on October 24, when she will change her future life with her eight-year-old daughter Zaina.
Human Rights Watch, which took the unusual step of filing an amicus brief in the domestic dispute, warned that the 36-year-old mother would face a “serious threat of corporal punishment, prolonged imprisonment and the death penalty” if she returned to Saudi Arabia to accompany her daughter. if the court dismisses Zaina.
The case is in the spotlight as the complicated custody scenario of another American mother is at a dark impasse. Carly Morris, originally from California, returned to the United States a few weeks ago after being held captive in the kingdom through her ex-husband. for years, but was forced to leave her eight-year-old daughter, Tala, behind a custody dispute.
Morris traveled to Saudi Arabia with Tala in 2019 to stop at the home of Morris’ ex-husband, Tala’s father, and their relatives. But Morris told the Guardian she had been held captive in a hotel room for years while Tala’s father took care of Tala.
After gaining internet access during the Covid pandemic, Morris began contacting other people in the United States, but was later arrested and released. She eventually lost custody of her daughter. On April 23, when his ex was due to take Tala to court for a trial date, he showed up alone.
Morris left Saudi Arabia after the ban was lifted, he said, because he felt he had no choice.
“We don’t even know where he is,” he said. The only way to get it back is to win an appeal for custody in Saudi Arabia. I think it’s almost impossible. All the lawyers refuse to accept my case. “They say, “You don’t stand a chance. “
The cases of the two Americans reveal how Saudi law treats women and foreigners in custody disputes, where parents are the default guardians of their children. Even in cases where divorced women are granted custody of their children, the child’s Saudi father remains the legal guardian. guardian, who has authority over all vital decisions.
A U. S. State Department spokesman said its embassies and consulates have no higher priority than the safety and security of U. S. citizens abroad.
“We have interaction in all cases of custody disputes over foreign children, respecting due process and the interests of the child,” the spokesman said. The State Department declined to comment on the cases of Alhaidari or Morris, raising confidentiality concerns.
For Alhaidari, the looming October trial date may simply be a crisis unless the court adopts a regular ruling allowing them to remain at home in Washington state. The activist, who has been an outspoken critic of the Saudi government since her return, described a heartbreaking escape from the kingdom after her allegedly abusive marriage to a Saudi citizen in 2013. The divorce was followed by years of custody battles, including intervention. through the U. S. Consulate, until in 2019 a sentence is issued that denies custody.
In the end, Alhaidari devised a plan to leave Saudi Arabia, for which she apologized to her ex and pretended to be in love with him again.
The fake relationship, he told the Guardian, lasted for months until he was able to regain his acceptance and get permission to leave the kingdom with his daughter to return to the United States on vacation. Once there, Alhaidari filed an application for emergency jurisdiction in Washington state. Since the United States applies foreign custody orders – with exceptions if custody cases raise egregious human rights considerations – it was up to U. S. courts to determine whether Alhaidari and her daughter could simply stay.
After confirming that Saudi law on male custody and guardianship violated his human rights, a lower court ruled in Alhaidari’s favor. But Alhaidari’s ex appealed the decision. Oral arguments will be delivered on 24 October.
“If we lose, he will be ordered to return to Saudi Arabia,” he said. “The odds are not in our favor. If this human rights law has been invoked on appeal, the girl has been expelled. They went again, to Pakistan, Mali, Iran. If we win, it will be the first time.
The cases are excessive for Alhaidari because of his fervent defense of detainees in the kingdom. She has been accused of various “crimes”, adding the denunciation of the kingdom and Islam, both of which carry dangers of punishment, adding flogging. and stoning. His case will be heard through a three-judge appeals panel in Wenatchee, Washington.