Saudi father ordered to return 'caged' daughter to Britain

A British-born woman who was taken to Saudi Arabia and "caged" in her father's house for four years must be allowed to return to the UK, a British judge ruled on Wednesday.

Amina al-Jeffery, 21, who grew up in Swansea and has dual British and Saudi Arabian nationality, was taken by her father to Jeddah in 2012 and is often locked in her room because, according to his daughter, she "kissed a guy" in the UK.

Lawyers representing the 21-year-old took legal action and asked Mr Justice Holman, of the family division of the High Court in London, to look at ways of helping her. 

The judge concluded on Wednesday that her liberty had been severely constrained and that her father, Mohammed, 62, must return her passports and pay her fare back to the UK by 11 September.

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 UK without complying.

The ruling came after the court heard the 21-year-old was kept "caged" in her father's house when he leaves, suffers physical abuse and is not properly fed.

Lawyers for the father said he disputed his daughter's statements, arguing that he was trying to "save her life" after she became "reckless" in her teenage years. The father alleged his daughter had taken drugs.

Mr Justice Holman however concluded that she has been denied freedom of movement - which could be described as "caged" - but not literally "in a cage".

He added: "Current circumstances are such that this British citizen does require protection. She is currently in peril from which she requires to be rescued.

"To do nothing at all would, in my view, be dereliction towards Amina."

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

Solicitor Anne-Marie Hutchinson, who represented Miss al-Jeffery, said after the ruling: "We have got exactly what we wanted."