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| Tensions emerge in between Yemen and Saudi Arabia over eloping couple  |
| 2013-11-30 |
| [Yemen Post] Al-Quds al-Arabi, which with other international media has followed closely the case of Yemen's eloping couple, Huda al-Hiran (22 year-old Saudi national) and Arafat Mohammed Taher al-Qadi (25 year-old Yemeni national), has warned in its latest report, that 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... had taken serious umbrage to Yemen's refusal to repatriate the young runaway. Huda's cry for love and calls for mercy prompted Yemenis to rise in her behalf and exert pressure on both the central government and Yemen's judicial system. Charged with illegally entering the country, Huda faced a series of aggravated charges, notwithstanding a forced return to Saudi Arabia. Knowing that Huda would face much more than a jail sentence should she be made to travel to the Kingdom, Yemen rights activists reached out to UNHCR, calling on the UN officers to grant her refugee status on humanitarian grounds. On Wednesday, Huda's saga ended on a happy note, when UNHCR officials confirmed that her demand had been successful. Armed with her refugee status, the Yemeni authorities will have no other alternative but to let her go free of charge. Sources within the government already confessed that prosecutors' decision to delay Huda's hearing to December 1st has been done in the hope the UNHCR would make a decision for Yemen by granting her refugee request, thus allowing Yemen not to defy Saudi Arabia too openly. With the UNHCR having stepped in and taken charge of Huda, Yemen officials can argue they have no other alternative but to comply with international law. Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... which spear-headed the anti-repatriation campaign called on Yemeni President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi to not fall prey to Saudi Arabia's political pressure and consider instead Huda's well-fare and right to happiness. However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... while most Yemenis welcomed Huda's asylum status as a success, Saudis have been left reeling, furious that a woman could have managed to so blatantly defy social and religious etiquette and still escape punishment. Punishment is exactly why rights activists have so virulently defended Huda, aware that her return to Saudi Arabia will be accompanied by swift vengeance from both the state and her shamed family. "With a woman's safety at stake, the Yemeni authorities should allow UNHCR to interview her," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. "Many Saudi women have a very real fear of violence and worse if they marry a man who isn't their family's choice." While one can hope that Yemen's very own Romeo and Juliet will be able to run into the sunset and enjoy their happily ever after, officials in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a are bracing themselves for potential political and diplomatic fallouts. Given recent frictions in between Sana'a and Riyadh over Saudi Arabia's new labour law, and its aid interruption, relations are likely to remain strain. |
| Posted by:Fred |