We are hostages: Saudi king daughter

One of four daughters of Saudi king, who are locked up for speaking out against the country’s oppression of women, says they are ‘hostages’ in their father’s palace.

Sahar, Maha, Hala and Jawaher Al Saud are daughters of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz who are reportedly being confined against their will.

“We are cut off and isolated and alone,” the king’s eldest daughter, Sahar, 42, told the US daily The New York Post in a phone call.

“We are hostages. No one can come see us, and we can’t go see anyone. Our father is responsible and his sons, our half-brothers, are both culprits in this tragedy,” she added.

The 42-year-old described their living quarters as “ruins,” noting that she and her sisters are beaten by sticks by men including their “half-brothers.”

The princesses, aged 38 to 42, are said to have starved and refused medical treatment.

“Our energy is quite low, and we’re trying our best to survive,” Sahar said.

The daily said that the sisters were imprisoned after they openly spoke agaisnt illegal detention of women and their incarceration in mental wards in the Arab country.

“That was it for him. It was the end for us,” Sahar stated, adding, “but I assure you that we didn’t commit a crime or do anything to deserve this.”

“They once had a normal life for Saudi Arabia, but they are free thinkers, and their father hates that,” said the Saudi princesses’ mother, Alanoud al-Fayez, a former wife of the Saudi king, who has lived in London since Abdullah divorced her in 2003.

“. . . The king wants them dead and he wants them to die in front of the world, yet he will deny any of this ever happened,” she added.

The comments come as an unnamed official at the Saudi Embassy in London told the newspaper that the women are free to move about, but since they are from the royal family they must be accompanied by armed security guards.

Women in Saudi Arabia are banned from working or traveling without the authorization of their male guardians.

The kingdom is also the only country in the world where women are prohibited from driving, and even obtaining an identity card without the consent of their guardian.

According to rights activists, Saudi Arabia’s women are also required to obtain permission from a male guardian to perform “certain surgeries” and to “leave the university campus during study hours.”