成人X站

SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Washington woman trapped in Saudi Arabia by oppressive Sharia law

Mar 7, 2019, 7:58 AM | Updated: 7:59 am

Saudi Arabia...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center is seen off by Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir, left, as he departs from Saudi Arabia's King Khalid International, in Riyadh, Monday, January 14, 2019. (Andrew Cabellero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

(Andrew Cabellero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)

I read a long piece in the about a 31-year-old woman from Washington — it doesn’t say specifically where, but it looked like the Wenatchee area — who is currently trapped in Saudi Arabia.

I’ll tell you what, I would be sick to my stomach if one of my daughters chose to go to a country that is under Sharia law.

Bethany Vierra moved to Saudi Arabia in 2011 to teach at a women’s university and do research for a graduate degree.聽I’m sure it sounded like a wonderful life adventure for a woman in her 20s. But there are a lot of adventurous places — you don’t need to go to a country with Sharia law for your adventure.

RELATED: Protesters in Seattle organize march against Sharia law

While there, she met a Saudi businessman and married him two years later. According to the New York Times article, her friends all liked the man and thought he seemed like a wonderful guy. Vierra and her husband later had a daughter together, who is now 4.

Sometime after they got married, Vierra said that her husband became emotionally and verbally abusive, and she asked for a divorce. In Saudi Arabia, under Sharia law, all a man has to do to get a divorce is say that he wants a divorce. But when it’s the woman who wants the divorce, the man has to approve her request. For more than a year, this guy would not do it. She had to file a request with the Saudi court. Eventually, the court hearing accepted the husband’s claim that he divorced her six months before.

Here’s where it just gets sickening. Women have guardians in Saudi Arabia. Even though they’re divorced, Vierra’s ex-husband remains her official guardian and the sponsor of her residency. He has refused to give her permission to travel. She was not able to come home to Washington to spend Christmas with her family. Her ex has also, as of last month, let her residency expire, which means that her being in Saudi Arabia is illegal. Without valid residency, she cannot travel, have access to her bank account, and cannot even report crimes to the police.

And so, this 31-year-old Washington woman is trapped in Saudi Arabia. She cannot travel to get back home. She cannot even walk the street legally. She is a prisoner in that country.

Furthermore, according to the article, even if Vierra finds a way to leave the country, she will likely have to leave her daughter there. Because her daughter is a Saudi citizen, the little girl can only leave the country with her father’s permission.

Do you think our administration is going to help? We just stood by after that journalist,聽Jamal Khashoggi, was slaughtered, because every regime — be it Trump or Obama or Bush or Clinton — has such deep oil ties to the Saudis. We can talk about the kid who was held prisoner in North Korea and was eventually murdered — he was sent home alive, but in a coma, and died soon after — because we don’t have any deep financial ties to North Korea. But with Saudi Arabia, we have deep financial ties there.

So here we have a young woman from our state who is essentially a prisoner there because her ex-husband won’t give her permission to do anything and our nation won’t intervene.

Famous dog rehabilitator...

Jason Rantz Show

Famous dog rehabilitator previews new book, revealing how saving animals saved his life

Discover how famous dog rehabilitator Niall Harbison's passion project started and learn about his new book.

21 minutes ago

Associated Press

In an uneasy climate, diverse pride groups converge on DC with differing interests but common goals

WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 You’ve heard of twofers. Kenya Hutton is a 鈥渢hreefer.鈥 His parents are immigrants, he鈥檚 a Black man and he鈥檚 gay 鈥 at a moment in history when anti-immigrant fervor, racism and anti-LGBTQ feelings are rampant and amplified by Trump administration policies. Hutton is hardly alone. As members of the Black and Latino […]

55 minutes ago

pennies U.S. Treasury...

Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin Show

‘Get rid of the d*** pennies’: Gee Scott celebrates U.S. Treasury’s decision

The U.S. Treasury announced it will phase out the penny, putting a stop to adding one-cent coins into circulation, the department said in a statement Thursday.

1 hour ago

Free Geek employee Ashley Martinez points to the screen while helping John Castro during a keyboard...

Associated Press

The Digital Equity Act tried to close the digital divide. Trump calls it racist and acts to end it

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) 鈥 One program distributes laptops in rural Iowa. Another helped people get back online after Hurricane Helene washed away computers and phones in western North Carolina. Programs in Oregon and rural Alabama teach older people, including some who have never touched a computer, how to navigate in an increasingly digital world. It […]

2 hours ago

FILE - U.S. Army soldiers cross a floating bridge on the Imjin River during a joint river-crossing ...

Associated Press

The US military spent $6 billion in the past 3 years to recruit and retain troops

WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The U.S. military spent more than $6 billion over the past three years to recruit and retain service members, in what has been a growing campaign to counter enlistment shortfalls. The financial incentives to reenlist in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines increased dramatically from 2022 through last year, with the […]

2 hours ago

Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives for his first weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The...

Associated Press

Can Pope Leo remain a U.S. citizen now that he’s a foreign head of state?

Pope Leo XIV’s election as the first U.S.-born leader of the Catholic Church elevated him to the extremely rare, and legally thorny, position of being an American citizen who now is also a foreign head of state. Born in Chicago as Robert Prevost in 1955, the new pope for the past decade has held dual […]

2 hours ago

Dori: Washington woman trapped in Saudi Arabia by oppressive Sharia law