WENATCHEE — A state appellate court reaffirmed an international custody case that allows the state to make rulings if, for one of the parents, returning to the country of origin could result in the death penalty.
The Washington Court of Appeals Division III ruled Tuesday in favor of Bethany AlHaidari, who fled from Saudi Arabia to the United States in 2019 with her daughter after a two-year divorce and custody dispute with her ex-husband.
AlHaidari in Chelan County Superior Court requested that temporary custody of her daughter be granted and that custody determined be under Chelan County’s jurisdiction as they lived there at the time and because Saudi laws violate human rights. AlHaidari grew up in Cashmere.
AlHaidari testified that she was required to sign a parenting plan under duress in November 2019 to maintain partial custody of her daughter, but technically violated the agreement by coming to the United States and remaining here in state.
AlHaidari’s ex-husband, Ghassan AlHaidari, argued in Superior Court to dismiss the case since the existing parenting plan was already in effect.
Usually in international cases, state law would respect and enforce the child custody ruling of the country where the case originated.
But, Judge Kristin Ferrera ruled Feb. 9, 2021, Saudi Arabia is a foreign country that “violates fundamental principles of human rights,” the court can assume jurisdiction over the case.
During the custody battle in Saudi Arabia, Ghassan AlHaidari accused his ex-wife of “gender mixing, adultery, and insulting Islam and Saudi Arabia” — crimes that carry the death penalty in the country, according to the court of appeals decision.
Later that year, in April 2021, the state legislature added a new section to this chapter of the law to include that courts can assume jurisdiction of a child custody case if the foreign country punishes apostasy — “abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief.”
A May 2021 order added the newly, adopted state law as part of “additional ground and support for the court’s ruling,” according to the court of appeals decision.
The three-panel court of appeals reaffirmed Ferrera’s ruling Tuesday citing the same state law that allows a local court to assume jurisdiction of a child custody case given Saudi Arabia’s law regarding “apostacy.”
It is not clear if Ghassan AlHaidari will appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. Otherwise, this case is remanded to the jurisdiction of the Superior Court to determine custody of the child.
