RIYADH, 2 April 2003 — Jameela was a beautiful young wife when she moved from southern Saudi Arabia to Riyadh five years ago. Her husband was working in Riyadh at the time, where the couple led a happy and contented life. Jameela gave birth to three girls.
Then came what can only be described as living hell — in the form of her husband’s younger brother.
In an interview with Sayidaty, a sister publication of Arab News, Jameela recalled how he ruined her marriage and happiness.
“My life was happy and normal until my husband’s brother came to Riyadh in search of a job. We gave him a room in our house because he had nowhere else to go. My husband helped his brother by opening a small shop for him until he found a job.”
According to Jameela what her husband got in return was a stab in the back.
“One day after lunch, my husband went to look after the shop while his brother tried to rest in his room. I went to my room to take a nap. After an hour, I found my husband’s brother in my room trying to molest me. I resisted with all the strength I had. If you had seen my torn clothes and my injuries, you would have known how much force I had to use to fight him off. I was screaming and so were my children. My neighbor heard us, and he came to my rescue by breaking down the door. He called in the police.”
Sayidaty also spoke to her neighbor, Dalal. “I heard someone screaming in her house. At first I thought it was her daughters crying aloud. When I listened closely, I noticed that it was the sound of Jameela,” she said. “I went to check it out, but when I got to her door I said to myself it was bad to interfere in other people’s business. I thought it was some family problem and I did not want to get involved. But as the screaming got louder, I began to worry about Jameela. I knocked on her door many times but no one answered. I decided to wake up my husband to see what was going on. My husband did not want to get involved, but I insisted. He came with me, and as the screaming got louder he decided to break open the door.
“Jameela came out in her pajamas, bleeding from her nose and with scratches all over her face and body. She threw herself into my arms. When I asked her what had happened, she told me to call the police because her husband’s brother was trying to rape her.
“I could not believe my ears and I was shocked. My husband called the police. The rapist came out in the meantime asking my husband not to call the police. He claimed that Jameela was lying...
“When the police arrived, they arrested my husband’s brother. I went to the police station for questioning and for a medical examination.
“Later, I asked my neighbor to take me to my husband’s shop. When he saw me in the shop he was stunned. I told him what had happened. He was shocked and kept repeating, ‘It is impossible, it is impossible.’
“His brother was charged and detained. After we went home, my husband locked himself in his room. I knew what agony he was going through. When I went to his room trying to talk to him, I saw him talking to his family in the south. He was angry, and I knew they influenced him. They asked him to pressure me to drop the charges to release his brother. They even tried to convince my husband that I was trying to seduce his brother, and they made up stories of illicit relationships between his brother and me. They told him that I was involved in many such relationships when I lived in the village in the south before I got married.
“He believed them. He accused me of cheating on him and he called me names that I cannot repeat.
“He divorced me and threw me and my daughters out. I am sure that he knows that I am innocent, but he sacrificed me to save his brother.”
The brother was released. “I wish I could kill him because he destroyed my life. I am afraid to face society, or go back to my village in the south. I get threatening text messages on my mobile phone from my husband’s brother. I could go to the police and have him charged, but I think I’ve had enough. I hope God will punish him.”
Sayidaty tried to contact Jameela’s husband but discovered that he had sold his furniture, left the apartment and moved to Jeddah.
