Samar has been in prison for seven months after her father
filed a case against her accusing her of disobedience.
Abdullah Al-Othaim, the head of the District Court in
Jeddah, told Arab News that a warrant stating that Samar Badawi is free has
been issued.
“Samar’s uncle (from her father's side) will now take care
of her, being now adjudged her male guardian,” he said.
Samar was sent to Briman Prison in Jeddah on April 4 after
her father lodged a complaint against her accusing her of disobedience. The father
filed the counter-suit after Samar had lodged a legal complaint accusing her
father of preventing her from marrying. Samar is a divorced woman with one son.
Samar accused her father of abuse and fled her family home
in 2008 to live in a shelter. Samar's mother is deceased. Samar fled the
shelter last year after learning that her father had instituted the case
against her.
Under Saudi law a woman who has no guardian or who is in
dispute against her guardian becomes a ward of the state who can face imprisonment
for refusing to stay in authorized women's shelters.
An investigation committee, which was looking into the
flight of Samar, said the legal representative of Samar should be taken to task
for not revealing the whereabouts of the girl after she fled. They also called
for specific actions against officials at the shelter.
Samar’s case neared resolution following actions by
government officials and a blog campaign that began this month. Samar had also
handed a petition on Sunday to the National Society for Human Rights in which
she urged them to prevent her from being returned to her father and also easing
her path to marriage.
Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed had previously sent a
letter to the head of the Social Affairs in Makkah region to revisit Samar’s
case and act on her request to be allowed to live outside the shelter along
with her son and with the agreement of her brother.
Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal suggested in a letter
that the case be transferred to the Reconciliation Committee and a pledge taken
from the father not to abuse Samar and to help her marry a decent man.