A man who became a Saudi national 28 years ago is denying his daughter the same citizenship by refusing to include her on his family identity card unless she divorces her Yemeni husband of 35 years and leaves her 10 children. The case was ostensibly resolved four years ago when the Emir's Office ordered the father of Haila Ahmad Dhaifallah Aal Harran Al-Najrani to include her on the card, but the order has yet to be carried out, leaving unresolved a chain of events and in-house squabbles that passed through the courts and the jailhouse. Following the death of her mother, Haila lived as a child with her father in Al-Hadhan in the south of the Kingdom, and her father married her off when she reached puberty to a Yemeni resident. “In 1403 (1982/83) my father got Saudi nationality and all my brothers were put on the family card, giving them Saudi nationality, but I wasn't,” Haila said. “When I asked my father later in life to put me on the card, he said he would only do it if I leave my husband and children, as my two sisters did,” she said. “Sua'ada and Rajwa, once they were put on the card and got Saudi nationality, went back to their husbands, but I won't divorce my husband and leave my children just because they're Yemenis. My husband is loyal, and is 50 years old, and he hasn't been back to Yemen since we got married 35 years ago.” Haila's stance led her father to collude with one of her brothers and approach the Passports Department claiming that she, her husband and her children were living illegally in the Kingdom, and that she was a Yemeni national. Passports Department officials in Najran then held Haila, her husband, and ten children in detention ahead of deportation. “We were kept for 12 days, and were about to be deported, until I appealed to the Emir's Office and they ordered the court to sort the situation out,” she said. Haila then took her father to court, where he denied she was his daughter, although witnesses repudiated his statement and the judge ordered that DNA tests be done. “When the DNA proved I was his daughter the courts in Najran issued me with lineage deeds and said I was entitled to Saudi nationality, and the Emir's Office ordered my father to include me on the card,” Haila said. “That was four years ago, and it still hasn't been done,” she said. Haila is now appealing to all relevant authorities to help her resolve her identity crisis.
