Princess Sultana's Circle (21 page)

For when death claims us,
you must go last.

Because I can’t live one
second without you.

Kareem kissed my
hands.

Overwhelmed with emotion, I
couldn’t speak. Finally I sputtered, “Kareem, that’s the most
beautiful thing you’ve ever said. The most wonderful gift you could
have ever given me, you have just laid at my feet.” I added, “A
basket of diamonds would offer less pleasure.”

Kareem arched his eyebrows
in amusement. “Oh? Be careful what you say, Sultana, or I’ll give
the basket of diamonds to beggars.”

I smiled.

Kareem stroked my face with
his hand. “Now, Sultana, tell me, did you enjoy your shopping
trip?”

I felt a flash of guilt. I
am indeed fortunate to have a husband who provides me with my every
desire. “Of course, darling. I had a most wonderful time. I bought
many lovely items. No man that I know is more generous toward his
family.”

My words greatly pleased
Kareem.

It is a source of great
pride for our Saudi husbands that they are able to acquire anything
that their wives and children might covet. There is a heated
competition between the Al Sa’ud men as each attempts to surpass
the other in buying their families the rarest adornments and the
most precious possessions.

But secretly, the
high-priced trinkets that money could buy were ceasing to bring
Kareem’s wife joy or happiness.

In the past, I had sought
solace for my problems by buying many beautiful and expensive
possessions. But something had changed. I realized that spending
sprees like mine that morning would no longer provide me with the
needed psychological consolation.

What was happening to me?
Was I becoming like Maysa? I wondered. Such a change in personality
would disrupt everything familiar in our lives. Certainly, Kareem
would not know how to react to a woman who had lost her fondness
for expensive jewels and beautiful clothes. I did not want a
barrier between my husband and me. Eventually I would have to share
these strange and new sensibilities with Kareem. But not today. We
were both exhausted.

Kareem continued to worry
about my lingering depression, and since he was going to be busy
with business meetings, he asked Sara to keep a close watch on me
for the remainder of the trip.

Sara insisted that we enjoy
whatever New York City had to offer, and we did. We saw two
Broadway plays, visited the American Museum of Natural History and
the Guggenheim Museum, and dined at some of the finest restaurants
in the world, Le Bernardin, Le Cirque, Lutece, and The Quilted
Giraffe.

The day before we were to
depart New York City, I received the parcel from my friend, Anne. I
ripped it open and carefully studied its contents. I was pleased to
see that a color photograph of little Heidi was enclosed. She was a
beautiful child with a big smile.

Several typed pages of
information were also enclosed, including facts about other young
children stolen by Saudi fathers from their American mothers and
taken out of the country without permission. I was shocked to learn
that over ten thousand children, nearly two thousand of them
American, had been illegally taken from their non-Arab mothers by
their Saudi fathers, and were now living in Saudi
Arabia.

As I read individual
stories of young children who had not seen their mothers for many
years, I wept. The pain of losing a child was worse than any other
loss, of that, I was certain.

Sifting through the
material, I saw a photograph of Heidi’s father, Abdulbaset
Al'Omary. Physically, he was not an unattractive man, yet, from
what I knew of his behavior, I could find nothing to
admire.

If only I could reach this
man. I would plead for him to return his child to her mother.
Unfortunately, Margaret McClain had been unsuccessful in her
efforts to discover an address or telephone number for her former
husband, and the chances of finding Heidi were slim
indeed.

I left New York City in a
melancholy frame of mind. Traveling with my family and friends on
our private airplane, my mood was somber. I removed myself from the
jovial atmosphere and sat apart from the other
passengers.

Sara glanced toward me
protectively, but she did not attempt to draw me into the women’s
circle. Huda was absorbed in a lengthy story of a special dish that
she had savored at Bouley’s, one of New York City’s finest French
restaurants. Sara knew that I found Huda’s absurd obsession with
food increasingly annoying.

Even in the midst of
excited voices, I became lost in my sad thoughts of the innocent
children stolen from their mothers.

My thoughts returned to
Heidi. What future now awaited this lonely child?

From what I had read about
Heidi’s Saudi father, I knew that the poor girl would be raised in
the strictest of Muslim homes. Within a short time she would be
compelled to don the veil, for in my country many Muslim girls are
being forced to veil even before they reach puberty. Following her
veiling, Heidi would undoubtedly be coerced into an arranged
marriage to a man she would not know until the first shocking night
in the marriage bed.

I tried to sleep, but my
rest was fitful. After I had spent a few hours of tossing and
turning in my uncomfortable seat, Sara came to my side to tell me
that we were to land shortly. We would be stopping in London for
the night before continuing on to Saudi Arabia.

Had I known that during our
short time in England we would be humiliated by the enormous press
coverage of a Saudi legal case, I would have pleaded with Kareem to
cancel our London landing, and instead have our pilots fly the
plane on to Paris.

Chapter Eleven

Beheaded

U
pon arriving at the airport in London, we were confronted with
shocking newspaper headlines: the two most prominent words were
“Saudi Arabia” and “beheadings.”

“
What is happening?” I
asked Kareem. I was becoming alarmed for my family. Kareem spoke in
a low voice as he guided us through the airport.

“
This is the case of those
two British nurses. It seems that they have been found guilty of
murder.”

“
Oh, yes.” I quickly
recalled the incident that had attracted so much attention
abroad.

The story had begun about a
year before when two British nurses, Deborah Parry and Lucille
McLauchlan, had been arrested in Saudi Arabia on the suspicion of
the murder of Yvonne Gilford, an Australian nurse. And, now, during
the time we had been away in New York City, a Saudi court had found
these two women guilty of murder. The British people rejected
capital punishment a long time ago, but in Saudi Arabia, convicted
murderers are still put to death. We were entering a city that was
obviously filled with great agitation at the idea of two British
citizens losing their heads to the sword of a Saudi Arabian
executioner!

I shuddered. Although it is
my belief that the crime of murder demands uncompromising
punishment, I have always found the idea of beheadings utterly
horrifying! Actually, many people find our entire Muslim system of
justice primitive and shocking. Islamic law, or Sharia, is the
basis for civil and criminal law in Saudi Arabia. The Koran,
Islam’s holy book, and the sunnah, examples of Prophet Mohammed’s
deeds and commands, is the basis for Sharia. And, unlike laws in
many Western countries, Sharia stresses the rights of the society
over the rights of the individual.

The punishments laid down
for breaking Islamic laws are swift and severe. Convicted murderers
and rapists are beheaded, adulterers are stoned to death, and
thieves suffer amputation of their right hand. Other penalties
include public lashings, as well as the more universally acceptable
jail terms, and fines. These severe punishments may look brutal,
but most Muslim nations enjoy a lower crime rate than do many other
countries.

Knowing that our entire
system of justice was under public British media scrutiny caused
our party to become unusually subdued as our drivers transported us
into greater London.

After we arrived at our
apartment in Knightsbridge, Kareem and Asad left for the Saudi
Arabian Embassy to find out what was going on. As we settled into
our apartment, we women turned our attention to the newspapers
Kareem had purchased at the airport.

I winced as I read, for the
accounts of the ordeal these two British nurses were undergoing
filled the front pages. Every aspect of the Saudi judicial system
was explored and condemned. These newspapers seemed to be outraged
above all by the idea that our “primitive” society allows families
of murder victims to have a say in the punishment of those
condemned.

In Saudi Arabia, if a
murder has been committed, the family of the victim has the right
to demand that the murderer is killed in the same manner, or in any
other way they choose. There have been indeed cases of families in
Saudi Arabia choosing to inflict the same punishment on the
murderer as their loved one had endured, for example, stabbing the
condemned to death, or even running them over with an automobile.
However, most Saudis accept the standard sentence of death by
beheading.

Families of the victim also
have a second option, that of collecting blood money in exchange
for sparing the convicted murderer’s life. While camels were once
used to pay blood money, today the payment is in riyals or dollars.
There are set damages according to the circumstances on a scale
from SR 120,000 to SR 300,000 ($45,000 to $80,000). Of course, if
the victim is a woman, the blood money is half that for a
man.

In this case, the two
nurses had been found guilty of murdering a third woman. And, it
was now being reported in British newspapers that the victim’s
family had been approached about the possibility of accepting blood
money for their loved one as provided for under Saudi law, even
though the victim’s family lived in Australia. The dead woman’s
brother, Frank Gilford, had reportedly become outraged at the idea
that his sister’s life could be bought and paid for, and had
angrily refused the offer of blood money.

I agreed with Frank
Gilford. I, too, would reject the offer of blood money. How can
anyone place a monetary value on a life? If only Saudi Arabian men
had the same degree of love and esteem for their women as Western
men, I mused, as I compared Frank Gilford’s reaction to a true
story that recently occurred in Saudi Arabia.

This story I was reminded
of unfolded when an inebriated foreigner crashed his automobile
into a car carrying female passengers, and killed two Saudi women.
Two serious crimes had been committed: the crime of drinking
alcohol, and the crime of murder; therefore, the foreigner was
immediately thrown into jail. He was certain to be condemned to
death under Saudi Arabia’s strict laws. His only hope was to
convince the husband of the dead women to accept blood money.
Otherwise, he would be beheaded.

Although other similar
cases in Saudi Arabia had shown that most Saudis prefer an “eye for
an eye,” the accused’s lawyer prepared a plea offering blood
money.

When the case was called
before the Saudi judge, no one was more shocked at the reaction of
the surviving husband than the guilty foreigner and his lawyer. The
husband of the two dead women stood before the judge and said,
“Your honor, I request that the prisoner be released. I do not call
for his death, nor do I want his money. The two women killed were
wives that I had taken in my youth, and had grown too old to be of
service to me.” This man had looked at the defendant, and actually
smiled. “I am glad to be rid of them, for I can now replace them
with two young wives.”

Under the law, the Saudi
judge had no option but to release the lucky foreigner. It was
further reported that the husband actually thanked the foreigner,
saying that he had wanted to divorce his wives for a long time, but
had not wanted to make a financial settlement!

Once again, I considered
the good fortune of women of other countries. To be valued and
esteemed is beyond the expectations of many Saudi Arabian
women.

My attention returned to
the fate of the British nurses. Now that they had been convicted,
and with execution looming, public interest was at its peak.
Although a number of Muslim women have been beheaded in Saudi
Arabia, never has a woman from a Western country suffered this
cruel fate.

Tension was mounting
between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Great Britain. The
British were appalled at the possibility that two of their own
might lose their heads at the hands of a Saudi swordsman, while the
Saudis were angered by British criticism of their judicial
system.

Huda interrupted my
thoughts when she looked up from the newspaper she was reading.
“These English should not complain about our Saudi method of
capital punishment. Saeed Al Sayaf, the official executioner, is a
skilled swordsman. My husband once witnessed a beheading and spoke
of Saeed’s work with the highest praise. These British women will
be fortunate to have such a practiced executioner.” Huda made a
clicking sound with her tongue. “One minute these women will have
their heads, and the next minute they will not. They will not
suffer one moment of pain.”