Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — Saudi King Abdullah imprisoned his four daughters after they pleaded with their father to alleviate poverty in the Gulf Cooperation Council state.

Abdullah’s ex-wife has disclosed that the king kept their daughters in confinement for 13 years. Al Anood Al Fayez, now in exile in London, said the daughters were imprisoned after they complained about poverty in the
kingdom.

“I taught my daughters to be strong and speak the truth even to their powerful father, who doesn’t enjoy being challenged and especially not by women,” Ms. Al Fayez said. “When my daughters told their father his wealthy kingdom is full of terrible poverty, he called them liars, even as hundreds of men and women wait under the scorching Arabian sun to plead for the king’s help in ameliorating their dire economic or medical situations.”

In a statement on April 1, Ms. Al Fayez said the United States has failed to respond to the plight of her daughters. She said President Barack Obama, with two daughters of his own, refused to raise the issue of the imprisonment of the four women during his visit to Saudi Arabia on March 28.

“When Mr. Obama met with my ex-husband last week, he did not demand the liberation of my daughters, nor all the Saudi women enslaved by mindless, medieval government in which women are property,” Ms. Al Fayez said. “This clear Obama failure should be a permanent part of his legacy. He could have changed that by being the first American president to address women and
human rights abuses by the Saudi king.”

Ms. Al Fayez said daughters of the royal family have become vulnerable
to imprisonment. Her statement, rejected by major U.S. newspapers,
said up to hundreds of Saudi princesses live in the United States and Europe
“to escape the prison-like conditions even for female members of the ruling
family.”

“My daughters, in contrast, have been deliberately denied even medical
attention that they urgently need,” Ms. Al Fayez said. “My children have
been robbed of their right to study, work, start a family, travel and visit
me. The king’s other children, sons and daughters, enjoy the opportunity to
travel freely, study or indeed, live in the West.”

Abdullah’s two sons, National Guard Minister Prince Mitab and Deputy
Foreign Minister Abdul Aziz, were said to have been responsible for keeping
the four women behind the high-walled compound outside Riyad. Mitab and
Abdul Aziz have pledged to keep the king’s daughters in confinement after
Abdullah’s death.

“My daughters deserve to pursue their happiness anywhere they wish,” Ms.
Al Fayez said. “They deserve to rebuild their lives outside the locked doors
and high walls of the modern day monarchy of darkness, the kingdom of Saudi
Arabia.”

  Al Anood Al Fayez, King Abdullah, Mother of Saudi princesses: King, Obama turned deaf ear to their complaints about poverty, Prince Mitab