Post date: Nov 25, 2013 12:44:4 AM
Hundreds of people gather outside a court in Sanaa to show support for a Saudi woman who eloped to Yemen with a Yemeni man.
SANAA, YEMEN (NOVEMBER 24, 2013) (REUTERS) - The UN has called for a Saudi woman to be given asylum in Yemen to avoid being deported back to Saudi Arabia, after she eloped with a Yemeni man, a U.N. official said on Sunday (November 24).
In October, 22-year-old Huda al-Niran crossed into Yemen after her family refused to allow her to marry Arafat Radfan, a Yemeni she had met while he was working at a mobile telephone shop in Saudi Arabia.Yemeni authorities detained the woman for entering the country illegally pending her trial, which is expected to result in her being deported back to Saudi Arabia.
An official at the UNHCR office in Sanaa told Reuters on condition of anonymity the UN agency would help Niran obtain "a humanitarian asylum".
Yemeni government officials could not immediately be reached for a comment.
On Sunday, a Yemeni court postponed issuing a ruling in her case until Dec. 1, Kadi said, as hundreds of people gathered outside the courtroom chanting: "Love before borders and citizenship."
Some protesters held banners that read: "Yes for culture of love and peace, and refuse culture of war and hatred".
Niran is currently facing charges of entering Yemen illegally, according to her lawyer.
"In the case she asked to be a refugee, then she becomes under the international protection, and according to the international law she is (eligible for) humanitarian asylum. The Yemeni authority doesn't have the right to deport her and she has the right to live and move freely in Yemen's land," said Abdurrhman Baraman from theNational Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms, who is representing Niran.
Many of those who gathered outside the courtroom expressed their support for the Saudi woman.
"We are in a sit-in to support this humanitarian case of Huda, the Saudi Girl who asked to be a refugee in Yemen and who came to marry a Yemeni man. This is one of her rights," said activist Mokhtar al-Sharafi.
Last week Human Rights Watch called on Yemeni authorities not to deport Niran "without considering her claim that the Saudi government will not protect her against life-threatening family violence".
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and a U.S. ally, is an absolute monarchy that follows Sunni Islam's strict Wahhabi school. It forbids women to travel abroad, open a bank account or work without permission from a male relative.
A landmark domestic violence law was introduced this year, but activists have called it toothless because judges may decide a man is within his rights to beat his wife, daughter or sister if he disapproves of her behaviour.