Saudi Government and "Honour" Kidnappings

 The Long Reach of Islamic Totalitarianism

It's difficult to know what to make of the story below, which appeared in a NZ daily recently.  It is being alleged that two Saudi Arabian Christian converts, resident in New Zealand, have been kidnapped and repatriated against their will to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Arabian government pays for hundreds of students to attend universities in New Zealand.  It is generally understood that the totalitarian Saudi government monitors them, keeping tabs on their activities whilst in this country.  Now we read this:

Two Saudi Arabian asylum seekers at opposite ends of the country have suddenly flown home, and friends are convinced they have been forcibly repatriated because they'd turned their backs on Islam.

A half-eaten chop rots in a frying pan on a stove. Packaged food spills out of a pantry. Elsewhere: electrical appliances, spartan furniture, towels, clothing. Someone has left this council flat in the Christchurch suburb of Redwood in a hurry. No-one has seen or heard from the tenant, Saudi refugee Khalid Muidh Alzahrani, known as Daniel, for three weeks, and the council has applied for an abandonment order for the property.  Alzahrani, 42, suffered polio as a child, uses a walking stick and a wheelchair, and has other serious health problems.

He arrived in Christchurch about five years ago on a Saudi Government scholarship to study English, moved to Dunedin after the earthquakes and then returned to Christchurch, converting to Christianity and applying for asylum. He was granted refugee status on the grounds that he would be persecuted in Saudi Arabia, and told friends he was terrified he would be kidnapped and forced to return.

The Saudi ambassador to New Zealand told the Sunday Star-Times Alzahrani had "insisted" on returning home to visit his mother and the consulate had paid for his air ticket. But his friends don't believe it - they say he was last seen in the company of two strange Arab men and believe he was taken out of the country under duress, possibly by agents of the state or family members.

Police state that they are not treating the case as a kidnapping at this stage but have reached out via Interpol to make sure that Alzahrani is OK.

We can believe that the Saudi government would strenuously strive to keep control of Saudi students in New Zealand.  If too many defected, or converted to Christianity, it would threaten the whole educational programme of Saudi students here.  Secondly, there is the matter of family "honour".  Islamic "honour" kidnappings are well known and documented.  There is no reason blithely to assume they would never happen in New Zealand.  In fact, New Zealand is a relatively open society and definitely unwary, so it would be extreme naivete to presume that honour kidnappings and even killings would not occur here.

Further details have emerged:

In Christchurch, an elderly neighbour said the last time he saw Alzahrani was about three weeks ago, leaving in a white, four-door car with two men "who weren't New Zealanders".  Alzahrani's GP alerted police when he failed to turn up to a medical appointment. Immigration New Zealand confirmed that Alzahrani left the country on July 31 but refused to say if he was travelling alone.  Police said they were satisfied he had left voluntarily.  "However, due to Mr Alzahrani's ongoing health issues, police have made a request ... to the Saudi Arabian authorities to enquire as to his welfare," they said in a statement.

Saudi Ambassador Ahmed Al-Johani said in a statement Alzahrani had "insisted" he wanted to return home, "so we provided him with a ticket as he requested". He left New Zealand on a Cathay Pacific flight via Hong Kong and had "safely arrived to his family".  Al-Johani released health records from two-and-a-half years ago when Alzahrani had sought help from the consulate because he could not afford his medical bills. "We offered Mr Alzahrani all the help and support he needed."

The Star-Times understands that was before Alzahrani sought asylum. Al-Johani ignored other questions about Saudi Arabia's stance on Christian converts.  Members of the Christian community in Christchurch who were providing Alzahrani with financial support to supplement his invalid's benefit are upset with the police response to their complaint. They have tried repeatedly to reach Alzahrani, without success.

They said his dream was to bring his two young daughters to New Zealand. It was out of character for him to disappear without telling his friends, they said.  "Daniel made it very clear that he would never return to the Middle East as it was too dangerous for him as a Christian," a friend said. "He shared many times that he was fearful of abduction."

A source said Alzahrani's brother had visited Christchurch a few months ago and given him an air ticket to return to Saudi. He had refused to take it.  "The fear of his brother visiting caused him to have very bad nightmares about being killed in his flat." the source said. "He felt in a very dark place and was irrational at times. Why would a man like this want to go back into the lion's den?"

A source familiar with Saudi asylum-seekers said that when a family member converted, "religious police" would visit the family and give them a deadline to sort it out themselves.  "Often the oldest son will be sent to get them and bring them home and re-indoctrinate them."

Then there is this case:

In May last year, a young Saudi Christian who had arrived in Auckland two months earlier and claimed asylum was snatched off the street by three men just three days before his refugee interview and was flown back to Saudi Arabia, where it is believed he spent time in prison and was tortured. His lawyer, Roger Chambers, said the man had managed to secretly make contact with his friends in Auckland. "He has had a dreadful time in Saudi Arabia," Chambers said. "[He was told] more than once if he did not renounce his Christianity that he could expect to be beheaded.". . .

In the Auckland case, it is believed one of the three men who snatched the asylum-seeker was his brother. A source said the other two were travelling on diplomatic passports and were captured on CCTV footage at Auckland airport.  Chambers said his client had been so worried about the possibility of being kidnapped and forcibly returned home that he changed his name by deed poll and applied for asylum on religious persecution grounds.

His conversion had "outraged" his family.  The Star-Times has been told he was married to a member of the wealthy, influential bin Laden construction family.  After he disappeared his friends searched his flat in Grafton, central Auckland, and found all his clothes and belongings still there, including credit cards.

Chambers said New Zealand officials met the man when his plane landed in Hong Kong, but he indicated he was returning voluntarily and was allowed to proceed.  "There was considerable doubt as to whether that was a voluntary statement. The evidence suggests he was kidnapped ... and we suspect they were agents of the state, but there may have been a family involvement."

He had written to Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse seeking help in the case, and hoped that the man could be returned to New Zealand to resume the asylum process.  "I am really concerned. If we can do something to rescue him I'd very much want that. Any New Zealander would be horrified, it's appalling."

Our inclination is to believe these to be genuine cases of Saudi state-sanctioned kidnapping.   When a Muslim converts to Christ, he or she becomes immediately subject to the death penalty.  This automatically extends to Islamic students converting to Christianity living in New Zealand.  Secondly, Saudi Arabia is an Islamic totalitarian state.  Thirdly, Saudi Arabia nurtures Wahhabi, one of the most extreme manifestations of Islam on the planet.  Its devotees and followers would most definitely want to see family members who depart Islam to be recaptured and/or killed for their apostasy.  Fourthly, honour kidnappings and killings are very common worldwide.  Only the myopically naive would rule them out in New Zealand.  Finally, the Saudis--including many Saudi families, particularly those whose children  would "qualify" for a study grant in New Zealand--would have the money and resources to execute such illegal kidnapping.

In both these cases, the Saudi embassy has been complicit and involved.  In both cases, the Saudi embassy appears to have played fast and loose with New Zealand law.    That alone lends credence to the story of kidnappings.