This is a picture of the 21-year-old woman who claims she is being kept in a cage in Saudi Arabia by her strict Muslim father.

Amina Al-Jeffery - who was whisked off to the the Middle East four years ago - desperately sent the picture to her friend in a plea for help.

The photo shows Miss Al-Jeffery - her old dark locks swapped for cropped, dyed hair - surrounded by gating with a padlocked door in the background.

Amina Al-Jeffery - who was whisked off to the the Middle East four years ago - desperately sent this picture to her friend in a plea for help

She was taken by her father, academic Mohammed Al-Jeffery, to Jeddah when she was just 16 years old because he opposed her western lifestyle in Swansea, Wales.

She claims her father, 62, now locks her up inside a cage after she was allegedly caught kissing and hugging an American student at a Saudi university - and subsequently arrested.

Now, Miss Al-Jeffery, 21, has launched legal action against him.

Miss Al-Jeffery had spoken to lawyer Anne-Marie Hutchinson when she briefly escaped from her father's home.

Lawyers representing her say they fear for her safety and have taken legal action in London in a bid to protect her.

The High Court was told she has been starved of food and water, physically abused, and will not be allowed to marry the man of her choice.

Mr Al-Jeffery had said: 'I will not allow Amina to go back to a toxic lifestyle.'

The judge, Mr Justice Holman, said there were reasons to be 'very concerned' about Miss Al-Jeffery's welfare, adding there was a 'degree of admission' by her father.

He said Mr Al-Jeffery - who works at the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah - had admitted locking his daughter in his flat when he went out and there had been 'very elaborate steel latticework' over windows so that Miss Al-Jeffery could not shout out.

Miss Al-Jeffery (pictured) claims her father now locks her up inside a cage after she was allegedly caught kissing and hugging an American student at a Saudi university - and subsequently arrested

Miss Al-Jeffery was taken by her father, academic Mohammed Al-Jeffery, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (pictured) when she was just 16 years old because he opposed her western lifestyle in Swansea, Wales

A 'barrier or partition' had been put up at the property, which Miss Al-Jeffery has likened to a 'cage'.

According to The Times, Ms Al-Jeffery sent the photograph of her locked up to her friend Robyn Lewis last November.

Ms Lewis said: 'Amina sent me the message saying she didn't want to be there.

'She said, you need to help me to get out of her.'

Along with the photograph, Miss Al-Jeffery wrote: 'Just because I am dressed up, I am dressed up in a cage.'

Representing Mr Al-Jeffery, Marcus Scott-Manderson said the father had 'required' his daughter to go to Saudi Arabia when she was 16 because he was concerned about the life she led in Wales.

'His concern is that she is going to be at risk (in Britain),' Mr Scott-Manderson told the judge.

'He is the head of a family that has its own moral and cultural standards.'