High court urged to intervene in case of Amina al-Jeffery, 21, whose father has admitted locking her in his flat when he goes out

A high court judge has said there is reason to be very concerned about the welfare of a 21-year-old woman who says she has been imprisoned by her father in Saudi Arabia.



Amina al-Jeffery, who grew up in Swansea and has dual British and Saudi Arabian nationality, said her father Mohammed al-Jeffery, an academic, locked her up because she “kissed a guy”.

Lawyers representing Amina have asked Mr Justice Holman, in a public hearing of the court’s family division, to look at ways to protect their client.

Holman said the case was very serious and that Mohammed, who is in his 60s, was not seeing the situation through the “right perspective”.

The judge said it was possible that Amina was being manipulative, but there was a “degree of admission” from her father, who had admitted locking his daughter in his flat when he went out.

Mohammed also admitted previously having “steel latticework” over the windows so his daughter could not shout out.

“I provisionally feel that we – this state, this court – need to feel very concerned about the welfare of this British citizen,” Holman said. “These things are said. There is a degree of admission by the father.

“To take an example: that he locks her in the flat when he goes out; that he formerly had this very elaborate steel latticework over the windows so that she could not shout out through the window.”

The judge said Mohammed was also refusing to let his daughter go to the British consulate in Jeddah. “Provisionally there is a lot of ground for concern about her,” Holman said.