A child trapped in Saudi Arabia with her Mother for 3 years.
American mother, Carly Morris came to Saudi Arabia with her five-year-old daughter named Tala. The father of the daughter was originally from Saudi Arabia. Carly had married and later divorced during their 7-year scholarship period in the USA. Later, after the father was back in Saudi he persuaded Carly to come to Saudi for a visit. The purpose of the visit was for their daughter to meet their paternal grandparents for the very first time. Carly’s ex-husband had arranged a 30-day visa for them both.
As per Carly, when she and her daughter landed in Saudi, they first stayed in a hotel room which was arranged by her ex-husband. To her shock, the hotel room had no windows and they didn’t even have an internet connection, so their mobile phones would not work there.
She said that after she arrived in Saudi, a week after that, her ex-husband asked for their passport and birth certificate, so he could start processing their exit permit. But later she found out that, instead of processing the exit permit, he transferred Tala to Saudi Citizenship.
The girl, Tala, who was born and lived in America, was considered a Saudi citizen. The country runs on a male guardianship system, so Carly had no choice but to wait until the father agreed. but he had no intention to do so. Carly says her Saudi ex-husband began collecting Tala each morning and not bringing her back until late in the evening. Left alone all day in her basic hotel room with little money she relied on boxes of food he would leave for her. Finally, after nearly two years of appealing to him to take their daughter home, Carly began writing to members of the US congress and others who she hoped might help her.
Her ex-husband used to take Tala each morning and would not bring her back till late at night. She was left alone in the room all day with a small amount of money and barely some food boxes. This continued for 2 years, she tried persuading him again and again, which seemed to fail. So she finally wrote to members of the united states congress and others. This angered the father of Tala.
When he found out, he abducted the daughter for over two months. During that time he filed a case of custody. But in the papers, he denied abducting the girl from her mother.
After failing to get any replies from American politicians, she wrote a letter to the White House for help, which also went in vain.
Denise White, Carly’s mother, believes that US Diplomats are reluctant to act. During the current energy crisis, the Gulf kingdom is one of the world’s biggest oil producers, thus they have political leverage. She expressed her worries about her granddaughter’s lack of education after she got to know that tala has not been to school in the past 3 years.
Bethany Alhaidari says that dozens of women in Saudi are in the same situation as Carly.
Tala also seems to have some kind of psychological impact as she’s in the middle of custody in a country far away from her home.
The US-based human rights foundation says that Carly is one of the 50 women fighting for their children’s freedom after marrying Saudi nationals. Except for the US, there are other women from different countries who are facing the same battle too in Saudi Arabia.
After a long battle in court, Carly got custody of Tala, but she was told not to leave the Saudi. She says that with no funds in her hand her life has become the life of a prisoner.US embassy told the BBC that the welfare of US citizens was the highest priority to them and they are constantly in touch with Carly.
She said before she entered Saudi Arabia, many people warned her not to go there and that she would never be able to get out of the country with her daughter, but she never listened to anyone. She regrets her decision to enter the country even though she was warned many times.
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