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U.S. seeks right of U.S. wives of Saudis to leave kingdom with kids

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, June 23, 2003

U.S. SEEKS SOLUTION TO NATIONALS SEEKING TO LEAVE SAUDI The United States is trying to negotiate a solution that would allow American women married to Saudis to leave the Arabian kingdom.

U.S. officials said the State Department and the U.S. embassy in Riyad want to enable American women married to Saudi men to leave the kingdom with their children. Under Saudi law, the husband has exclusive custody of the children.

The State Department effort took place as two American women sought and received refuge in the U.S. consulate in Jedda. Both women were said to have been married to Saudi nationals and sought to leave the kingdom with their children.

One of the women brought her children to the consulate but officials said she later left the voluntarily. Later, diplomatic sources said the woman returned home after the consulate refused to provide asylum for her children. The sources said Saudi authorities pledged to examine the issue.

Another woman, identified as Sara Saga, has decided to remain in the consulate, officials said. They said Ms.Saga decided against leaving Saudi Arabia when she was unable to take her two children with her to the United States.

"None of the women who have been granted such permission have chosen to depart and we keep in regular contact with them," State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said on Friday. "The commitment, in terms of what the Saudis have committed, to doesn't extend to children of those women."

Officials said the United States has been unable to obtain permission for American women married to Saudis to leave with children who are minors.

They said many of these women were married to Saudi students and then moved to Saudi Arabia.

In April, U.S. Assistant Secretary Maori Hardy held talks in Saudi Arabia to discuss the freedom of travel by U.S. women married to Saudis. Officials said the talks were inconclusive.

The State Department effort was prompted by hearings in Congress of U.S. nationals denied their children when trying to leave Saudi Arabia.

Last year, Congress heard testimony that the U.S. embassy in Riyad did little to help the American spouses of Saudi men.

"What we are doing is focusing on trying to resolve the issues, trying to resolve this, these -- what we call freedom of travel disputes that involve U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia," Reeker said. "And we are going to keep up that effort and, at the same time as these individual cases come along, do what we can to afford protection to American citizens abroad."

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