JEDDAH, 25 October 2005 — A few weeks ago, the French news agency Agence France Presse published a report saying that Saudi authorities had prevented the TV broadcaster Rania Al-Baz from leaving the country. The article said that she had traveled -- very circuitously -- by truck from Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province to Bahrain and from there she had gone to Dubai where she boarded a flight to Paris. The story said that the authorities in Riyadh provided no official justification for not allowing the journalist to leave the country.
Sayidaty magazine, a sister publication of Arab News, contacted Al-Baz in France and asked her why she had been prevented from traveling and why she had hidden in a truck and gone to via Bahrain over King Fahd Causeway.
She answered, "First of all, I did not leave the country secretly like a runaway or a criminal. I left legally and officially. In fact, I was not prevented from leaving Saudi Arabia but at the airport in Jeddah on my way to Paris, one of the passport employees took my passport and my ticket and began asking me all kinds of questions. I became worried that one of my enemies was trying to delay me until the plane had taken off. By the time I got my ticket and passport, the plane had indeed taken off. I went back home and wrote a letter to Prince Muhammad ibn Naif at the Interior Ministry explaining what had happened. I then went to Bahrain and from there to Dubai and to Paris."
Nevertheless, AFP stood by its report that the Saudi authorities had prevented Al-Baz from traveling. What is the truth?
"The undoubted truth is that I love my country and I'd absolutely never think of harming it. Be sure that I would not speak to the media or anyone else about what happened to me. I'd speak to my government and I'd defend myself to it -- that is if I was accused of something in the first place, though of course I'm not accused of anything," said Al-Baz. "I'm a Saudi citizen who loves her country and is adamant about serving it and showing its bright face. When I learned about this story, I called AFP immediately, asking them what the source of their erroneous information was. They said that when I failed to arrive in Paris on the flight I was supposed to be on, they called me and because of some technical malfunction, there was no answer. That, according to them, led them to conclude that I had been prevented from traveling. I immediately demanded that they publish a follow-up story denying the first one which was not true. I told them that I would sue and that the proof of what I was saying was that I had left officially and openly on King Fahd Causeway which my passport proves. I was also promised that AFP would publish a denial."
She added: "I know that what was published is damaging to Saudi Arabia and that there are many who are glad to exploit anything negative against Saudi Arabia. I will not tell anything but the truth even if I end up sleeping in the street. And I will not talk about what happened except to the authorities. The Saudi Embassy in Paris is trying to help me. Everyone knows that I received care and protection from my government and from His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Majeed and his wife Princess Sara Al-Angary."
When asked whether and when she ould return to the Kingdom, Al-Baz said: "Definitely, I will return to Saudi Arabia. It is my country, and my family and children are there. When my work is done, I'll return. I will probably spend Eid Al-Fitr in Jeddah with my family."
