JEDDAH, 14 September — Saudi Ambassador in Washington Prince Bandar ibn Sultan yesterday refuted reports in the US media that many American citizens were being held in the Kingdom against their will by their Saudi parents. He warned that politicizing child custody disputes would further complicate efforts to resolve them.
“There has been a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding surrounding the issue of child custody and abduction. Some have charged that Saudi Arabia is holding Americans against their will. This is absolutely not true,” Prince Bandar said in a statement published by the Wall Street Journal.
“The abduction of any child is a human tragedy that should not be politicized. My government takes these issues very seriously and is working to find practical solutions. In cooperation with the US government, we have made real progress toward resolving the 12 cases that involve Saudis,” the prince said.
He said contrary to media reports, the Gheshayan sisters who according to their mother were abducted by their Saudi father in 1986 had been free to leave the Kingdom, if they chose to do so.
Members of the US Congress, led by Indiana Republican Dan Burton, have backed a campaign by their American mother Pat Roush accusing the State Department of not doing enough to persuade the Saudi authorities to give her access to her daughters.
Alia and Aisha Gheshayan, now 23 and 19, traveled to London recently and met privately with US Embassy officials there, apparently to put an end to their mother’s campaign to persuade them to return to the United States and abandon their Saudi identity. They have said repeatedly over the years that they do not want to leave Saudi Arabia and they do not want to visit America or have contact with their mother.
“This is a tragic case ... As a government, we cannot counsel the family on how to interact. What we can do is to ensure that the Gheshayan sisters have the freedom to freely make up their minds, which they appear to have done,” Prince Bandar said.
A similar case involves a young woman named Amjad Radwan. In a statement to US diplomats, Ms. Radwan said that she does not wish to travel to the US or elsewhere at this time, but may choose to do so in the future.
“Ms. Radwan was issued a passport when she asked for it, and can now travel freely. There is nothing more any government can do in this situation. The Saudi government cannot force any citizen to do something he or she does not want to do,” the prince said.
The State Department currently has 1,100 child custody cases to handle worldwide, and Saudi Arabia is one of many countries, including Germany and Austria and Switzerland. “The cases involving Saudi Arabia represent less than 1 percent of the total. But for some strange reason, they account for virtually all the media coverage,” Prince Bandar said.
Of the 12 cases involving the Kingdom, two (Al-Gheshayan and Radwan) can no longer be regarded as outstanding. Of the remaining 10, five have requested that the Saudi and US governments take no action at this time, as the families themselves try to resolve the cases privately, he said.
“The remaining cases are taken very seriously, and my government has formed a committee to ascertain the facts and recommend solutions, where possible,” the ambassador said.
Meanwhile, there are a number of cases involving children abducted by their American parents from the Kingdom in violation of court orders, he added. “My government is also seeking solutions to these cases,” Prince Bandar said.
There are more than 40,000 Americans and some 30,000 Britons living in Saudi Arabia. Also, there are more than five million residents from all over the world who have made the Kingdom their home. And, they are not, as some editorials claim, “clamoring to get out.”
Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal recently met with a congressional delegation led by Rep. Dan Burton. The two sides agreed to come up with practical and workable solutions to these tragic cases. These solutions must guarantee parental rights while safeguarding the rights of the children, who are the real victims.
Prince Bandar said the Saudi government has proposed a bilateral protocol with the US to establish a mechanism for dealing with these issues.
“My government respectfully asks Rep. Burton and the US government to work closely with the Kingdom to create practical and workable solutions that would not only solve these issues, but also prevent them from happening in the first place,” Prince Bandar said. He, however, warned that politicizing the issues for the sake of publicity would cloud the realities and further complicate the path toward resolution.
