Mick Hartley

From the Times (£):

A Welsh schoolgirl has been kept prisoner in a cage by her father for more than four years after being accused of un-Islamic behaviour, a court was told yesterday.

Amina Al-Jeffery was born in Swansea but was taken to Saudi Arabia aged 16 because her academic father objected to her western lifestyle. She has since been held captive in her father’s home in Jeddah, the family division of the High Court was told yesterday.

The forced marriage unit of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that the Saudi authorities refused to recognise the daughter’s British citizenship and “steps need to be taken to ensure Miss Al-Jeffery is returned to the UK where her safety can be guaranteed”….

Mr Al-Jeffery, a father of nine, moved to Wales before his daughter’s birth. The family received benefits and his children were educated at British schools and universities. Henry Setright, QC, representing Mr Al-Jeffery, said that her father had taken her to Saudi Arabia because he disapproved of her “relationships and conduct”.

Miss Al-Jeffery, now 21, is kept in a cage when her father leaves the home, is physically abused, deprived of food and water and not allowed to marry the man of her choice, the court was told….

Mr Justice Holman said that the jurisdiction of the British courts was not clear because Miss Al-Jeffery was now an adult with dual Saudi and UK citizenship. He said: “We have to be careful about asserting the supremacy of our cultural standards.”

How true. Our cultural standards include not keeping a 21-year-old woman locked up in a cage. But, if other cultures think otherwise, well, who are we to argue?