UK judge says Saudi man must let daughter return to Britain

A father who “imprisoned” his daughter in Saudi Arabia has been told he must return her to the UK.

Miss Al-Jeffery’s lawyers fear for her safety while she is under the control of her academic father Mohammed Al-Jeffery and say she should be allowed to come home to Swansea.

But should Mr Mr Al-Jeffery return to Britain without complying, Mr Justice Holman said he might face contempt of court proceedings.

He heard that her mother and siblings were back in South Wales.

Solicitor Anne-Marie Hutchinson, who represented Miss Al-Jeffery, said after the ruling: “We have got exactly what we wanted”. Barrister Marcus Scott-Manderson QC represented Mr Al-Jeffery.

During the hearing, Mr Justice Holman described the case as very sad and said Mr Al-Jeffery, who is in his 60s, was not seeing the situation through the “right perspective”.

Her father Mohammed Al-Jeffery, who is a Saudi academic, admitted locking her in the flat when he went out.

The judge said the 21-year-old should be returned by September 11 and he would analyse the case again on September 13.

Mr Justice Holman said today the issue was whether he should exercise that power.

“He wants to help Amina”.

“He says he brought her to Saudi Arabia to help her”.

He told the High Court: “The father says Amina was at risk in Britain. (He) made a decision to do it because Amina was not focusing on school”.

Former Olchfa School pupil Amina Al-Jeffery, aged 21, is now being kept by her strict Muslim father after she kissed an American student.

The judge accepted that there was little to nothing he could do to enforce the order, but added it had “moral hold” over the father and warned he could be held in contempt if he returned to the United Kingdom without complying.

He said: “To do nothing at all would, in my view, be dereliction towards Amina”.

“My only concern is I don’t think Amina knows”.