Girl in the iron cage
Briton ‘locked up’ by father in Saudi Arabia was ignored by diplomats who feared looking racist, says friend
FEARS of being branded racist meant ‘nobody was willing to help’ a young woman now being held ‘prisoner’ by her strict Muslim father, it has been claimed. It comes as a photograph emerged of British citizen Amina Al-Jeffery, 21, next to a ‘cage’ that she is allegedly locked up in at her father’s home in Saudi Arabia.
Fearing for her safety, lawyers have taken her case to the High Court – claiming 62-year-old academic Mohammed Al-Jeffery prevents her from leaving the house, after she was arrested for ‘kissing a boy’.
Miss Al-Jeffery was born and raised in Swansea, Wales, before her father took her to the Middle East aged 16 because he disapproved of her ‘relationships and conduct’.
But school friend Robyn Lewis – to whom Miss Al-Jeffery sent the image of herself in front of locked steel mesh doors – said she could, and should, have been protected and that her pleas for help were ignored.
Writing on Facebook, the estate agent from South Wales said: ‘For years I have been in and out of contact with Amina whilst she has been in Saudi, fully knowing what had been going on.
‘Every time I have spoken to her she had been begging for help.
‘Over the last 4/5 years I can’t stress enough how many times I have emailed/phoned local MPs, human rights charities and the British embassy in Saudi with no answers and nobody willing to help.’
Miss Lewis said South Wales Police was told her friend had been ‘taken against her will’. She added that Miss Al-Jeffery had discussed her fears with school staff.
‘I am not blaming anyone else other than her father and older brothers and sisters for allowing this to happen but I want people to know that so many people could have done more to prevent this,’ Miss Lewis wrote.
‘Why wasn’t anything done sooner to protect her? … I think people are way too scared to get involved with cases like this involving Muslim families in case of being branded racist.
‘More needs to be done to protect young female British Muslims. If school staff and the police acted as they should have maybe this wouldn’t have happened.’
Miss Al-Jeffery’s lawyer, Henry Setright QC, told the High Court last week that her father believed she was ‘someone he has a duty to control, including her freedom of movement’. The court heard the 21-year-old was arrested outside a Saudi university for kissing and hugging an American student who was later forced to leave the country.
She has since complained of being beaten, starved and locked in her father’s flat in the city of Jeddah – on the Red Sea coast, close to Mecca.
The court was told a ‘barrier or partition’ had been put up at the property, which Miss Al-Jeffery had likened to a ‘cage’.
Marcus Scott-Manderson QC, representing father-of-nine Mr Al-Jeffery, said the academic ‘could not bring himself’ to obey the court’s order to attend the consulate.
The lawyer also said that Mr Al-Jeffery disputed claims made against him. In a letter written earlier this year, the father had said: ‘Regarding returning Amina back to the UK, I am unwilling to do this as I fear she will go back to her old destructive lifestyle.
‘As her father, I fear for her health and safety and only want what is best for Amina, so she may focus on her education.’
Mr Justice Holman, hearing the case in the family division of the High Court, is expected to make a ruling on Wednesday.
He said he might have the power to order Mr Al-Jeffery to facilitate his daughter’s return to the UK – but might have difficulty enforcing such an order.
The judge also warned that the jurisdiction of the British courts was not clear because Miss Al-Jeffery was now an adult with dual Saudi and UK citizenship, adding: ‘We have to be careful about asserting the supremacy of our cultural standards.’
South Wales Police was contacted for a comment yesterday. When Miss Lewis was contacted by the Daily Mail yesterday, she declined to comment.
‘Why wasn’t anything done?’