Yemen-Saudi love story highlights political tensions
The recent story of a Yemeni man and a Saudi woman who fell in love and fled to Yemen highlights long-standing political and social tensions between their two neighboring states.
It is not just a love story, but one of rebellious love, with a touch of Romeo and Juliet. This Arab version features added struggle within a populist setting and crosses into the territory of geopolitics.
Huda al-Niran and Arafat Tahar, a Saudi woman and a young Yemeni man, fell head-over-heels in love in a country where romance is a crime and severely punished. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not tolerate emotions. Women do not even enjoy the right to drive a car, let alone fall in love with a Yemeni, which as an accusation is far more serious than one might expect.
Tahar, one of hundreds of thousands of Yemeni workers in Saudi Arabia, had a job in a cellular phone shop. One of his female clients later became his lover. When Tahar asked for her hand in marriage, her parents rejected his request. Niran was punished and forced into marrying one of her relatives to steer her clear of this “disastrous” affair with a Yemeni man. The wind, however, did not blow as Niran’s family had desired.
The couple's deep feelings led them to flee Saudi Arabia for Yemen, risking capture by Saudi and Yemeni security guards, and for Niran, a charge of illegal entry. They did so knowing full well what Niran would face were she to be returned to her family after such an adventure: death.
