Concert held in Montreal to support Nathalie Morin
Published: Mar 9, 2010 00:41 Updated: Mar 9, 2010 00:41
JEDDAH: A special concert and solidarity event was held in Montreal, Canada, on Sunday to give hope to Nathalie Morin, the Canadian wife who is allegedly being held against her will in Saudi Arabia.
The event, organized by the Nathalie Morin Support Committee and supported by several women’s groups in Canada, was hosted by Francis Gourd and included several singers such as Sylvie Desgroseilliers who sang a special song for Morin and her three children.
“The event was filmed and will be sent to Nathalie in the hopes she can see it and gain hope and courage to overcome her dire situation. We wish to express that we are there for her and that we are numerous who think of her and her kids,” said a statement from the committee.
Tickets for the event had been on sale for weeks in advance. Money raised will be put aside in a support fund for Morin and her children.
According to a Canadian Foreign Ministry representative, Morin’s Saudi husband, Saeed Al-Shahrani, told Canadian consular officials in Dammam on Sept. 22 last year that he was wiling to divorce her and allow her and their three children to return to Canada for $300,000.
Morin’s mother, Johanne Durocher, condemned the proposal saying she does not have the money and that the Canadian government would never pay the sum. “I don’t have that kind of money and Saeed knows I don’t have it. So he has asked the Canadian government to pay the sum, not me,” she told Arab News at the time.
Arab News contacted Durocher to ask whether the concert was held to raise the $300,000 to pay her son-in-law. “Many may think this is a way of collecting money to pay Saeed but it is not. After I finish paying for the show, it is possible that I will only have around $1,000 left, which will go into the fund to hold other activities in the future,” she said.
She added that her daughter has now been “held hostage in the Kingdom” for five years and that she hopes the event will give her daughter and other women like her courage and hope.
“Given that we are currently in the year 2010, it is not normal for a country such as Saudi Arabia to still accept keeping women sequestrated in an apartment with only bread and water to eat,” she said.
Durocher said contrary to Saudi government claims that her daughter is not being abused, she has a film of her daughter saying she is being abused.
She added that human rights groups in the Kingdom have recently stopped responding to her calls and that she has contacted a human rights group in Switzerland to take up the issue.
Durocher said she has been active in advising young women in Canada not to marry Saudis and that the Kingdom is not a safe place for them to come and live in.
“Last week, I went on a TV show and told the young ladies of Canada about the dangers of Saudi Arabia and what my daughter is going through because she married a Saudi and moved to a country which lacks women’s rights,” she said.
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Mar 9, 2010 13:43
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May 11, 2010 14:41
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