An American activist who escaped Saudi Arabia in 2019 is at risk of being forced to send her daughter back to the kingdom by a US court because of an ongoing custody dispute.
Bethany Alhaidari is facing a 24 October court date that will determine her future life with her eight-year-old daughter, Zaina.
Human Rights Watch, which took the unusual step of submitting an amicus brief in the family dispute, has warned that the 36-year-old mother would face a “serious risk of corporal punishment, lengthy imprisonment, and the death penalty” if she were to return to Saudi Arabia to accompany her daughter, if the court ruled to send Zaina back.
The case is coming to a fore as another American mother’s custody plight has reached a dark impasse. Carly Morris, a native of California, returned to the US weeks ago after years of being held captive in the kingdom by her ex-husband, but was forced to leave her eight-year-old daughter, Tala, behind following a custody dispute.
Morris traveled to Saudi Arabia with Tala in 2019 so that they could visit Morris’s ex-husband – Tala’s father – and his relatives. But Morris told the Guardian she was essentially held captive in a hotel room for years while Tala’s father took Tala out during the day.
After getting internet access during the Covid pandemic, Morris began contacting people in the US but was then arrested and released. She ultimately lost custody of her daughter. On 23 April, when her ex was meant to bring Tala to court with him for a trial date, he showed up alone.
Morris left Saudi after a travel ban against her was lifted, she said, because she felt she had no other options.
“We don’t even know where she is at,” she said. “The only way I could get her back is if I win a custody appeal in Saudi. I think it is almost impossible. All the lawyers refuse to take my case. They say ‘you have no chance’.”
Both Americans’ cases reveal how Saudi Arabia’s laws treat women and foreigners in child custody fights, where fathers are the default guardians of their children. Even in cases where divorced women are granted custody of their child, the child’s Saudi father is still considered the legal guardian, with authority over all important decisions.
A spokesperson for the US state department said its embassies and consulates have no greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas.
“We engage on all international child custody dispute cases, advocating for due process and the best interests of the child,” the spokesperson said. The state department declined to comment on Alhaidari’s or Morris’s cases, citing privacy considerations.
For Alhaidari, the looming October court date could spell disaster unless the court makes an extraordinary decision to allow them both to stay at home in Washington state. The activist, who has been a vocal critic of the Saudi government since her return, has described a harrowing escape from the kingdom following her allegedly abusive marriage to a Saudi citizen in 2013. The divorce was followed by years of custody fights, which included intervention by the US consulate, until a judge ruled in 2019 to deny her custody.
Ultimately, Alhaidari devised a plan to get out of Saudi Arabia, and it involved apologizing to her ex and pretending to be in love with him again.
The fake relationship, she told the Guardian, lasted for months until she could regain his trust and get his permission to leave the kingdom with her daughter for a trip back home to the US. Once she arrived, Alhaidari filed for emergency jurisdiction in Washington state. Because the US enforces foreign custody orders – with exceptions being made if there are egregious human rights issues in the custody cases – it fell to US courts to determine whether Alhaidari and her daughter could stay.
After arguing that the Saudi custody laws and male guardianship violated her human rights, a lower court ruled in Alhaidari’s favor. But the decision was appealed by Alhaidari’s ex. Oral arguments will be heard on 24 October.
“If we lose she will be ordered to go back to Saudi Arabia,” she said. “The odds are not in our favor. Every case that has invoked this human rights statute at appeal, the child has been returned. They’ve still gone back, in Pakistan, in Mali, in Iran. That’s why it is scary. If we win, it will be the first time.”
Circumstances are particularly extreme for Alhaidari because of her outspoken advocacy on behalf of individuals who have been detained in the kingdom. She has been accused of several “crimes”, including criticism of the kingdom and Islam, which both carry risks of punishments including flogging and stoning. Her case will be heard by a three-judge appeals panel in Wenatchee, Washington.
