A judge ruled last week to send back a British women caged by her father in Saudi Arabia. Mr Justice Holman made the landmark ruling at the family division of the high Court in London saying that Amina al-Jeffery was entitled protection under British law despite her father saying her captivity was normal under Saudi Arabia’s Islamic rules.
The 21 year old photography student from Swansea said she feared being killed after revealing her father brutal treatment towards her. She described being kept in a “cage” in her father’s home in Saudi Arabia, where she was starved and tortured if she displayed him or tried to escape. Her treatment was her father, Mohammed al-Jeffery’s punishment for her western lifestyle which he described as “toxic”.
Mr Justice Holman said “She is currently in peril from which she requires to be rescued.” He has ordered Mr al-Jeffery to give back his daughter’s passports to her and allow her to return to Britain within five weeks. The judge’s unusual step was taken because “to do nothing at all would amount, in my view, to dereliction towards Amina and in effect giving up on her.” Despite the ruling the judge accepted that there was nothing he could do to enforce the order if Mr al-Jeffery refused to comply.