WUNRN
TAHIRIH
JUSTICE CENTER
The Tahirih
Justice Center was founded in 1997 to address the acute need for legal services
of immigrant and refugee women who have fled to the U.S. to seek protection from
human rights abuses.
Testimonial
Story of Abused Saudi Arabia Young Woman Who Found Asylum & Support in the
USA - Rana’s Story*
Some
people can think back to happy childhood days. But all of my memories are only
of violence and misery.
My name is
Rana, and I am from Saudi Arabia. I was orphaned at a young age and left to the
mercy of my two violent and cruel older brothers, Sa’ad and Ghafoor. Even when
I was a small child, they beat me for speaking “too loudly” or for studying
instead of cleaning up after them. As I grew older, the beatings only grew
worse. I can not remember a time when I was free of violence.
Sa’ad, my
eldest brother and head of the household, was particularly brutal. He routinely
beat me—sometimes with his fists, sometimes with hard objects like belts or
tape recorders—for wanting to complete my education and work. He would grow
especially enraged at the paranoid thought that I might have a boyfriend, even
though as a chaste, observant Muslim woman, I never did. Once, when I apparently
received a marriage proposal from a suitor I had never met, Sa’ad decided to
punish me. He grabbed a metal curtain rod and beat me so hard with it that the
curtain rod was completely twisted and broken, and I had defecated on myself by
the time he was done. Because the curtain rod had become useless, Sa’ad then
picked up a chain and proceeded to whip me with it. This was only one of many
horrible punishments I endured at Sa’ad’s hands.
In spite of
the violence and harassment I faced from Sa’ad and Ghafoor, I still managed to
complete my education. I was the only one in our family to do so. Instead of
being proud of me, Sa’ad hated me all the more for it and continued to make my
life miserable.
When I was
about 25 years old, Sa’ad told me to prepare for my wedding. I was to be
married to Sa’ad’s wife’s grandfather in exchange for a large dowry. An
illiterate villager over 70 years old, he had two wives, several children,
grandchildren, and great grandchildren. I was shocked and horrified, but when I
protested, Sa’ad grew violent. I endured a forced engagement party, knowing
that only God could save me from this horrible fate, since Sa’ad would kill me
if I refused to marry the old man.
My prayers
were answered when I sought the assistance of my kind and sympathetic cousin in
the United States, who then convinced Sa’ad to send me to America on the
pretense of a wedding shopping trip. After I fled, I found the Tahirih Justice
Center, which not only helped me receive asylum, but also worked to ensure that
I had the psychological counseling I needed to begin to heal the lifetime of
violence that I had endured.
Rana
received asylum in the United States in 2007. She is currently pursuing further
education and is happily married to a man of her own choosing.
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