JEDDAH, 23 June 2003 — An American woman who sought refuge at the US Consulate in Jeddah from an allegedly abusive Saudi husband will be allowed to leave Saudi Arabia without her husband’s permission. However, her two Saudi-born children will have to remain behind, according to a statement by Ed Vasquez, an official at the US State Department.
Sara Saga, 24, spent the weekend at the consulate with her two children, aged three and five, after her husband refused to give her the permission required by Saudi law in order to leave.
The country’s law governing family disputes dictates that women and children residing in the Kingdom as members of a Saudi household require the permission of the Saudi male head of the household to leave the country. This includes adult American women married to Saudi men and unmarried adult daughters of Saudi men. The male head of household also has legal control over the couple’s children.
Saga decided she would leave Saudi Arabia and that her children should remain here in the custody of her husband’s family, Vasquez said.
A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Kingdom would do everything necessary to protect the interests of the father and the two children as they are Saudi nationals.
Philip Reeker, a State Department spokesman, said last Wednesday Washington had held talks with Riyadh over the freedom of US citizens to leave Saudi Arabia.
“What we’re doing is focusing on trying to resolve the issues, trying to resolve what we call freedom of travel disputes that involve US citizens in Saudi Arabia, and we are going to keep up that effort. And at the same time as these individual cases come along, we will do what we can to afford protection to American citizens abroad,” he said.
