JEDDAH — A young Saudi man married a Pakistani woman in an unofficial way 35 years ago. The couple had a baby girl but the marriage did not last long. The woman left to travel out of the country in mysterious circumstances and took the child with her without registration identity papers. Today, the child who will return to Saudi Arabia with a Pakistani iqama and is not attributed to her father (her mother's second husband) is facing an unknown future with her mother's secrecy about the truth.
Mariam has been trying hard to convince officials to test her DNA to prove her father's identity and receive her rights and official paperwork as a Saudi citizen. After judicial hearing was held in the Personal Status Department in Makkah Court, Mariam received a paper that confirms her Saudi affiliation to her father after a DNA match.
Mariam, 35, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that she was deprived from living with her father and remained trapped in what she described as "lie". Her mother continued to hide the truth from her, which denied her the right to stay in her home country officially without a passport.
As a mother of two children, 6 and 2, the delay in her official paperwork prevents them from the right to request financial and social assistance from official bodies. "Because I do not own an official ID, I am unknown in my country," she said.
Mariam hopes to end her suffering so she could work and issue identification papers for her children.
