An American woman trapped in a prolonged custody battle with her Saudi ex-husband over their 4-year-old daughter said Thursday that a Saudi court had reversed its previous ruling, granting her the right to maintain custody and take the child abroad.
In a post on Facebook, the woman, Bethany Vierra, wrote that she had been afforded a number of rights that “seem basic elsewhere but are so difficult here,” calling the new custody agreement “a revolution.”
Ms. Vierra’s case drew attention to the range of legal barriers that women in Saudi Arabia face after getting divorced, although her situation was further complicated by her American citizenship.
The kingdom has long been known as one of the world’s most restrictive places for women, although its powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has pushed reforms to change that, including allowing women to drive and travel abroad without the permission of a male relative.
Ms. Vierra, who also uses her married named, AlHaidari, moved to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and married a Saudi businessman two years later. The couple soon had a child, Zaina.
But the marriage soured, Ms. Vierra accused her husband of being abusive and the couple divorced.
Even after the divorce, she ran into legal problems because her ex-husband remained the sponsor of her residency in Saudi Arabia as well as the legal guardian of their daughter, which meant he could bar Ms. Vierra from taking the child abroad even though Zaina was a dual Saudi-American citizen.
Ms. Vierra went to court to try to win custody, but in July a Saudi judge named her ex-husband’s mother as the child’s legal guardian, in part to keep the girl from being raised by a Westerner.
“Since the mother is new to Islam and a foreigner in this country and embraces customs and traditions in the way she was raised,” the judge wrote, “we must avoid exposing Zaina to these traditions.”
A new legal ruling was issued on Wednesday.
While its details were not made public, Ms. Vierra wrote that it had granted her the right to travel with her child and to remarry without losing custody of her daughter.
Ms. Vierra declined to comment beyond her Facebook post. Her ex-husband did not respond to a request for comment.
She plans to take her daughter to the United States soon.
“Christmas in America y’all, God willing,” Ms. Vierra wrote on Facebook. “It will be the most emotional homecoming of my life.”
Source : Nytimes
