MP says lessons should be learned from case of woman taken from Wales to Saudi Arabia and allegedly held prisoner by her father

A Welsh schoolgirl who was taken to Saudi Arabia against her will and allegedly held as a prisoner by her father was failed by the authorities, it has been claimed, after she raised the alarm with her school months before she was taken away.

Amina al-Jeffery spoke to school staff about her fears early in 2012, and had made a similar appeal at her previous school in 2011, according to the Henna Foundation, a charity that says it was consulted on the case. But there was no intervention by the authorities before she was taken to Saudi Arabia in April 2012.



The charity also says police in Swansea were warned that Jeffery was at risk of being forcibly taken to Jeddah but failed to follow advice to apply for a protection order that would have kept her safe. The police say they received no such warning.

Last year a British court ordered that Mohammed al-Jeffery must “permit and facilitate” his daughter’s return to the UK after he removed her from school on account of her “un-Islamic” behaviour and took her out of the country. He refused to comply with the order.

His daughter, who has dual British-Saudi nationality and is now 21, sent emails to her lawyer in December 2015 alleging her father beat her, put bars on her bedroom door and denied her access to the bathroom, forcing her to urinate in a cup, because she had “kissed a guy”.

Her father, a Saudi academic, denied the allegations and said he was trying to protect her. Last week she dropped the case citing reconciliation with her family, but women’s rights groups fear she may be acting under duress.

It is alleged that in 2011 the teenager told staff at her school in Swansea that her father had threatened to take her to Saudi Arabia, and she was advised that she could “prevent that at a UK port by speaking to any UK border official”.

The school sought help from Ethnic Youth Support Team, a local group that provides advice to young people. The group said the family failed to engage and its attempts to assist were unsuccessful.

Unhappy with her performance at the school, Jeffery’s parents removed her from the register and enrolled her at another secondary in Swansea later in 2011. While there, Jeffery – the seventh of nine children in a strictly religious family of high achievers – continued to come under pressure about her performance, according to friends.

It is understood that in January 2012 Jeffery, then 16, disclosed to a teacher that her father was threatening to take her to Jeddah to live with her grandmother. This did not lead to any action from police or the local council.

Shahien Taj, director of the Henna Foundation, which provides support for Muslim women and children, said she was contacted by three professionals seeking advice prior to Jeffery leaving the country.

She said: “The first call I had, in 2011, was from an education professional. On the last two contacts I had, which were with the police, including a call in January 2012, I told them they should go for a forced marriage protection order.

“They told me the case did not meet the legal threshold and I said that was a joke as there was information going back a year recording concerns at school.”

A forced marriage protection order is a civil order that can protect the subject from being taken abroad.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Undated family photo of Amina al-Jeffery. Photograph: PA

Geraint Davies, the Labour MP for Swansea West, said lessons needed to be learned from the case. “We failed Amina, who was taken from Britain against her will despite reporting the risks she faced to the authorities. A vulnerable 16-year-old girl naturally thought if she blew the whistle she would be protected but she wasn’t,” he said.

“It is now time to learn from mistakes for the sake of others and to keep a careful track of the health and safety of Amina as she unfortunately remains at risk.”

Jeffery’s lawyer, Anne-Marie Hutchinson QC, recently travelled to Jeddah to meet her and reported that Jeffery wished to withdraw legal proceedings against her father. She said her father had assured her she would not be prevented from pursuing her career and education or from leaving Saudi Arabia if she wished to do so.

This month a high court judge agreed to Jeffery’s request to withdraw the proceedings. Mr Justice Holman said he was “very pleased indeed that this sad and previously contentious case has resolved itself in this way”.

But Diana Nammi, director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, said she feared Amina was still being controlled by her family and remained at risk.

She said: “It is very common, where there is public scrutiny, for the family to say all the right things until the focus fades and they can then continue to control their female relative in the name of so-called ‘honour’.”

Nammi called for improved legal provision for women and girls taken abroad and at risk of ”honour”-based abuse, claiming the current support was “too narrow”. She said it was concerning that there was apparently no means to hold Mohammed al-Jeffery to account over his promises to his daughter.

“All Amina is left with is the word of a man who we know is motivated by so-called ‘honour’,” she said.

Police in Swansea deny they were warned about Jeffery’s welfare in the run-up to her departure. A spokesman said: “South Wales police were not advised of anything involving the subject prior to her travelling.”

A spokesman for Swansea local education authority said: “Safeguarding children is the council’s top priority and, in this case, the council acted on all matters escalated to it by the schools. When the school contacted the local authority about the concerns raised in April 2012, immediate action was taken.”