Adulterous Saudi princess facing death wins UK refuge

A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has secretly been granted asylum in the UK after she claimed she would face the death penalty if she were forced to return home.

The young woman, who has been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for refugee status after telling a judge that her adulterous affair made her liable to death by stoning, The Independent reported.

The woman, who comes from a very wealthy Saudi family, says she met her English boyfriend — who is not a Muslim — during a visit to London. They struck up a relationship.

She became pregnant the following year and worried that her elderly husband — a member of the royal family of Saudi Arabia — had become suspicious of her behaviour, she persuaded him to let her visit the UK again to give birth in secret.

She persuaded the court that if she returned to the Gulf state she and her child would be subject to capital punishment under Sharia law — specifically flogging and stoning to death. Since she fled Saudi Arabia, her family and her husband’s family have broken off contact with her.

The woman has been granted permanent leave to remain in the UK. The West Asian state has been shrouded in controversy over oppressive policies against women and homosexuals.

Secrecy surrounds much of the Saudi legal system, but in a recent report on the use of the death penalty in the kingdom, the human rights group Amnesty International highlighted its extensive use against men and women.

The high numbers of executions in Saudi Arabia in 2007 continued into 2008. There were at least 102 executions of men and women last year. At least 136 individuals currently awaiting execution.