A GLASGOW MP has vowed to help a Saudi family who fear deportation and persecution in their home country.
Haifa Alshamrani, 29 and her husband Abdullah, 36, have filed for asylum after a claiming they were threatened by Saudi officials in the UK.
Glasgow MP Patrick Grady said his door is “always open” to the couple, who came to Glasgow last year with their two young children.
Mrs Alshamrani had been hoping to complete a pre-medical course at Glasgow University, but her scholarship from the Saudi Government was withdrawn.
The family claim it is because Mr Alshamrani refused to help Saudi students in Preston with religious activities, and say they were not told why the funding had been withdrawn.
The couple now hope to claim asylum in the UK with their children Mohammed, 10, and Gadah, seven, as they fear persecution when they return to Saudi Arabia.
Mrs Alshamrani is an atheist after leaving Wahhabism, an orthodox version of Islam, when she married her agnostic husband.They are concerned their non-religious beliefs will not be tolerated at home.
Glasgow North SNP MP Mr Grady had spoken to the couple in February about their plight, and has agreed to continue to help them with their problems.
He said: “I met with Haifa Alshamrani and her husband at my constituency office on February 26. “Haifa explained that she had been studying at the University of Glasgow under a scholarship from Saudi Arabia but that this had been revoked and her family were now claiming asylum in the UK.”
Mr Grady added that he had been working with the family’s lawyer to offer them support, and said his door was always open to them.
He said: “Since then we have been liaising with the Home Office, Migrant Help and the family’s
solicitor to help the family access any necessary support while they are waiting for a decision on their asylum application.”
A fundraising page set up to help the family in the last month has raised more than £1,300, which has been used to cover their rent and buy food.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel