The family of a Saudi citizen's Canadian wife is making moves to find an amicable solution to return their daughter to Canada with her two children. Johanne Durocher, the mother of Nathalie Morin, the Canadian wife of Saeed Al-Shahrani, is seeking to convince Shahrani to allow his children, Samir, five, and Abdullah, two, to accompany their mother who, Durocher claims, is trying to return to Canada. Shahrani had told the Arabic daily Al-Watan last week that his wife Morin has no intention of leaving the Kingdom after she had converted to Islam. The move came after Durocher met with a Saudi official, who informed her that his government refuses to intervene in a strictly family matter. The official also asserted to the mother that her daughter Nathalie is not in detention and that she has not been tortured as her mother claimed in the Canadian media. “How can my wife be the victim of any torture or detention when she is currently learning Arabic at a specialized society and speaks with her mother on the phone daily?” Shahrani told Al-Watan this week. “She also speaks to Canadian TV channels.” Shahrani said that he received a phone call from the attorney of his mother-in-law to request permission for his children to travel with their mother as a showcase of the tolerance of Islam. “Whether or not I allow my children to leave Saudi Arabia is a matter which concerns both myself and my wife only,” he said. “Besides, I am entitled to keep my children in my custody according to Shariah, and I have not prevented my wife from staying with them.” He added that he offered to meet with the attorney at the Canadian embassy in Riyadh to reach a solution on the issue of letting his children travel. “He (the attorney) declined, saying that the embassy is considered as Canadian soil and that he is prepared to meet with me anywhere else under Saudi sponsorship.” Shahrani also said the attorney hinted that his mother-in-law is prepared to pay any amount in return for allowing her grandchildren to leave Saudi Arabia. “I have never asked for money in return for giving up custody of my children as she alleged,” Shahrani told the TVR Canadian television channel. “I would never give up my children if Canada pays me its entire wealth,” he said. Meanwhile, Durocher pressed on with her media campaign for the fifth straight day to maintain pressure on her son-in-law to allow his children to travel with their mother. Durocher accused Al-Watan of fabricating a photo of her daughter that was already published as part of a previous interview and criticized the veil worn by Saudi women. “This is an indication that women in that country are helpless and I do not approve of my daughter living in that community,” she said. Morin said in a phone interview with Al-Watan on Monday that she is satisfied with the progress of the media campaigns currently conducted in Canada against her husband. “My people have a different mentality and they told me all about the Saudi law,” she said. On receiving offers to smuggle her and her children out of Saudi Arabia through the GRC Canadian Intelligence service, Nathalie said that talking to Saudi newspapers did not yield any results. Durocher had launched her media drive earlier this year to force action against what she claimed was the abuse of Shahrani against her daughter. She was featured on the front pages of several Canadian newspapers earlier this month, and appeared on a Canadian TV channel. Shahrani had told Al-Watan that Canadian media is spreading false information inspired by the mother's imagination. He said his mother-in-law has been trying to drive a wedge between him and his wife ever since she visited the Kingdom two years ago. He said she was not convinced with her daughter's embracing Islam and wearing Hijab, even though the marriage is 7 years old. His wife once gave in to her mother and left the Kingdom quietly, only to return on her own two months later. Shahrani said Durocher had told TV channels in Canada that she was going to try to pull her daughter out of Saudi Arabia. She also fabricated pictures of his two children to convince people that they lived in misery. The husband said that his wife married him in Canada and came to Saudi Arabia to embrace Islam with convection, which gives him the right to run his relationship with his wife and the life of his kids in accordance with Islamic principles. In addition, his children, under the Kingdom's regulations, are Saudi. __
