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| Arabia |
| Court delays verdict on eloping case |
| 2013-11-25 |
| [Yemen Post] A court in Yemen decided to postpone issuing a final verdict in the case of Huda Abdullah Ali, a young Saudi national who was caught by the authorities as she tried to enter Yemen illegally with her fiancé, Yemen national, Arafat Mohammed Taher al-Qadi. The couple who were denied their marriage plan by Huda's family decided to escape to Yemen, where they planned to settle and marry, determined to not let tradition and family destroy their hope of happiness. In a society as traditional as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... where women are no more than commodities under the supreme authority of their male relatives, the idea that a young woman could so blatantly oppose her father's wishes, especially in a matter as gravely important as marriage has had both officials and the religious authorities clamouring for her return; as all want to see her pay for her crime. While just as traditional as Saudi Arabia, women enjoy a very different status than their Saudi counterpart. So far it is Yemen's more benevolent attitude toward women which has motivated the Yemeni authorities to protect Huda so far, and prompted them to loot at her case with a greater degree of compassion. Dubbed the Romeo and Juliet of Yemen, Huda and Arafat have captured Yemen's imagination, the contemporary heroes of post-revolution Yemen. Inspired by the couple's plight and maybe on some degree in reaction to Saudi Arabia increasingly prejudiced stance against Yemen, human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... and political activists have chosen to fight in the couple's behalf. Protesters have demonstrated before the court room, calling on the authorities to answer "the call of love" and show clemency, warning they would not leave until the two are properly married. Under much public pressure and the scrutiny of rights groups such Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... and HOOD (Yemen's most prominent rights group), prosecutors chose to postpone their decision until it could be determined whether or not Huda could be given a political refugee status under the UN Charter. Huda's fiancé, al-Qadi, who is himself facing criminal charges for enabling an unauthorized migrant from entering Yemen, told news hounds, "My only demand is to grant Huda humanitarian refugee status so that I can marry her," The Yemen Organization for Defending Human Rights, HOOD, said earlier that they have provided the court with all necessary documents for Ali to be registered as a refugee. HOOD's lawyer Abdul-Raqeeb al-Qadi said the Interior Ministry was still refusing to let the UN refugee agency see Ali, who is in detention. |
| Posted by:Fred |