In case you are wondering what happened to Jennifer Birrell, here is an update. Last we heard, she had appealed to Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud to intervene for the release of her Egyptian husband Mohammed Ahmed Nagi, who was imprisoned and caned on false charges brought by her former husband. Now, unexpectedly, on the eve of her meeting with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud last month, Jennifer Birrell was deported from Saudi Arabia. But freedom came with a price – she was forced to leave 3 children behind, and her current husband remains in a Saudi jail.
Jennifer Birrell is an Australian citizen. She became a widow at the age of 19 when her first husband died of cancer barely 7 months into the marriage. Later, a failed second marriage left her with custody of a child, Jamilla who is now 11 years old. Disillusioned, she renounced her Christian faith at the age of 21 and became a Muslim. At the Adelaide Mosque where she worshipped, her imam introduced her to an Australian citizen of Yemeni origin who also holds a Saudi passport. They got married, and 3 children were born in Australia from this marriage – Aliyah, Salem and Ibraheem. They are now aged 8, 7 and 4 years respectively.
Trouble began when the family uprooted from Australia in 2004 to settle down in Saudi Arabia. There Jennifer Birrell found herself being both the family’s sole breadwinner (because her husband wouldn’t work) and an abused wife (being assualted by him).
After she was legally divorced by her former husband before witnesses, she married her colleague, Mohammed Ahmed Nagi, and had a child, Ahmed, who is now 1 year old. But her former husband suddenly reappeared, falsely charged Mohammed Ahmed Nagi with being a marriage wrecker. Mohammed Ahmed Nagi was sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment and 300 lashes of the cane, based on this false charge. He has now served more than half the prison term and had been caned more than 200 times.
But why couldn’t Jennifer Birrell just pack up and leave Saudi Arabia with her 5 children? Because her former husband falsely claimed to be still her male guardian. In Saudi Arabia, Muslim women have no rights to several things, including travel, without the permission of her male guardian.
It seems that a meeting was arranged for Jennifer Birrell with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, but the day before the meeting, Jennifer Birrell who is the director of English at Al-Yamamah University found herself forcibly deported, without the 3 children fathered by her former husband.
Back home in Melbourne, Jennifer Birrell said: ”Now I’m expected to just accept that I will lose my children and not be able to see them for 10 years, and I can’t even come back to Saudi to visit them.”
And what does she plan to do? Jennifer Birrell said: ”I really need to find someone who is willing to help and bring my kids back … really hoping to be able to find a good lawyer who has international ties so that we can do something.”
Earlier in Saudi Arabia, Jennifer Birrell had a tearful departure when Aliyah, Salem and Ibraheem (all Australian citizens) were forcibly separated from her. On the road outside her Riyadh home, Jennifer Birrell pleaded to no avail with her former husband: ”Please, don’t take my kids from me.”
Perhaps Jennifer Birrell did not expect this outcome. She said: “I kept going through battle after battle – the solution as such was to have me deported” without her children. At one point, it appeared that she was going to leave with all her children.
On December 8 last year, Jennifer Birrell received a phone call from Kevin Magee, the Australian ambassador in Riyadh. Jennifer Birrell said: ”He said we have a breakthrough in your case … you and all of your children can leave and go back to Australia.”
But this was not the case. Australian consul Benjamin Van Eldik was later told by local authorities that her exit permit did not include Aliyah, Salem and Ibraheem, but Jamilla and Ahmed were included.
Describing her shock at this turn of event, Jennifer Birrell said that Benjamin Van Eldik told her: “Jennifer you just have to accept it. You are being deported without your children.” Then he added: “‘I know it’s not easy but when you get back to Australia you can rain down hell on them for what they have done.”
But why didn’t the Australian embassy intervene? Jennifer Birrell said: ”Because their father is an Australian citizen, I wasn’t able to get help from the Australian embassy – and the Saudi Arabian law prefers a man keeps his children.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Australia said that extensive consular assistance had been given to Jennifer Birrell and her children since 2007 to help them return to Australia. But she also said that Jennifer Birrell was under investigation for an undisclosed ”serious criminal offence” under Saudi law, a charge that Jennifer Birrell denied.
And how are the children left behind in Saudi Arabia coping with the situation? Jennifer Birrell said: “”I spoke to the man who used to be my former driver who went to take some of the boxes of their things to their dad’s house, he said he saw them there and they were ok but they were asking when I was coming.”
And what about her current husband Mohammed Ahmed Nagi? He is still in jail, but he may be deported back to Egypt. If this happens, then at least she can be reunited with her husband again, but regaining custody of the 3 children in Saudi Arabia is going to be a tough battle.
Think about it. Recently there were reports that Saudi Arabia is going to do away with the male guardianship law (or at least modify it to allow women to carry out certain activities). Male guardianship can be abused, as seen in the case of Jennifer Birrell. Would it be possible for Jennifer Birrell to leave Saudi Arabia with all her 5 children if the male guardianship law is scrapped?
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