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Bahrain princess going back!
Rashid
10/03/01 at 19:34:29
Saturday September 29 4:18 PM ET Report: Bahraini Princess Who Wed Marine Goes Home SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Bahraini princess who sneaked out of her country to elope with a U.S. Marine in 1999 is returning home because of a marriage gone sour and family fears about her safety, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday. Meriam Al-Khalifa Johnson, who swept out of Bahrain hiding under a baseball cap and flashing fake Marine identification, flew to Washington on Thursday to catch a flight back home to the Middle East, the newspaper said. The couple inspired a television movie, ``Romeo and Juliet set against Desert Storm,'' and a foreign-relations tempest when the Bahraini government asked the United States to send the princess back. The two finally married in Las Vegas, but are now considering divorce, Al-Khalifa Johnson told friends this week, the Times said. The newspaper reported that Al-Khalifa Johnson, 19, told her husband, Jason Johnson, 26, to get a job, while the ex-Marine, reduced in rank for forging the fake identification that let her evade Bahraini security and who left the Marine Corps early, wanted to attend college. In addition, her family feared for her safety in the United States in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks that destroyed New York's World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon (news - web sites) near Washington and provoked hate crimes against people of Middle Eastern descent. FBI (news - web sites) Director Robert Mueller said on Thursday that about 90 so-called hate-crime investigations had been launched across the country. ``I love my wife deeply,'' the Times quoted Jason Johnson as saying from his mother's home about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. ``This was a surprise to us all,'' he said. ``We had some general aches and pains in our marriage, but nothing bad, nothing like some of our friends. She never complained. She never said anything.'' The romance began in the Bahrain emirate, a key U.S. ally in the Gulf where Al-Khalifa Johnson's father is related to the ruling emir and Jason Johnson was stationed with U.S. forces. By the time the couple arrived in the United States, Bahrain had asked the State Department to return Al-Khalifa Johnson, sparking a diplomatic tangle that ended in the couple's favor after Al-Khalifa Johnson said she faced physical harm for socializing with non-Muslims if she returned to Bahrain. Though Bahrain protested that accusation, the U.S. government allowed her to stay and issued a green card last May, entitling her to permanent residence, which she could lose if the marriage breaks up.

Re: Bahrain princess going back!
jannah
10/03/01 at 20:03:11
Thanx for the article, Subhanallah I was just thinking about them yesterday. [wlm]

Re: Bahrain princess going back!
bhaloo
10/03/01 at 21:18:32
slm That's a different article then I saw last week, here's the one I saw: Bahraini Aristocrat, Ex-Marine Split Up By TONY PERRY and PHIL WILLON, TIMES STAFF WRITERS PHELAN, Calif. -- The marriage between an ex-Marine and a member of the ruling family of Bahrain has hit the rocks, with the wife returning to her native land amid talk of a divorce. Meriam Al-Khalifa Johnson flew to Washington on Thursday to catch a flight back to Bahrain, which she fled in disguise in 1999 when her royal family objected to her clandestine romance with Jason Johnson, then a Marine stationed there on security duty. She told friends this week that she and her husband are considering divorce, and that her family was concerned for her safety because of violence aimed at people of Middle Eastern descent since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The pair had quarreled over money, with Meriam, 19, telling Jason, 26, to get a job, and him preferring to attend college. "I love my wife deeply," Johnson said at his mother's home here in rural San Bernardino County. "This was a surprise to us all. . . . We had some general aches and pains in our marriage but nothing bad, nothing like some of our friends. She never complained. She never said anything." The couple had been living in Las Vegas since Al-Khalifa won a highly publicized fight with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to remain in the United States. In May, the INS, under a program open to the spouses of U.S. citizens, issued Al-Khalifa a green card allowing her to remain permanently in this country. A divorce could cause her to lose her right to stay in the U.S. Under INS rules, a green card issued to the spouse of a U.S. citizen is provisional for two years. If the marriage dissolves within two years, the green card recipient has to assert that it ended because of abuse or intimidation. The rule is meant to protect women from remaining in dangerous marriages for fear of losing their green cards. Also, if Al-Khalifa, whose father is a second cousin of Bahrain's ruling emir, stays in that country for 12 months she will be considered to have abandoned her residency in the U.S., which will mean forfeiture of the green card. To escape Bahrain, Al-Khalifa dressed in oversized clothes and pulled a New York Yankee cap over her eyes. Johnson and his buddies provided her with a phony Marine identification card, which helped her fool gun-tkting airport security. But when the couple landed in Chicago, the Bahraini government had petitioned the State Department to meet their plane and send Al-Khalifa back to Bahrain. The dispute became a tricky international issue because of the close ties between Bahrain and the U.S. The island nation in the Persian Gulf is one of this country's top allies in the region and provides a home port for numerous Navy ships. Once back in the U.S., Johnson was assigned to Camp Pendleton. The couple married in a chapel on the Las Vegas Strip and settled in base housing. Although she had lived in luxury in Bahrain, surrounded by servants and maids, Al-Khalifa insisted she enjoyed cooking and cleaning for her husband. Busted in rank for having forged the Marine identification card, Johnson received an early discharge. In seeking to stay in the U.S., Al-Khalifa asserted that she faced discrimination and physical harm if she returned because of animosity among the population toward women who socialize with non-Muslims. Bahraini officials emphatically denied that she would be harmed. The INS sidestepped that issue by providing the green card, which kept the case from going to a political asylum hearing. An official at Bahrain's embassy in Washington said Friday that Al-Khalifa had requested assistance in returning to Bahrain this week but declined further comment, calling the issue a family matter. The couple--young, good-looking and articulate--proved irresistible to the media. A television movie billed as "Romeo and Juliet set against Desert Storm" was shown on NBC. The couple also made the rounds of television talk-shows. "Oprah is going to be (annoyed)" at hearing of the marital estrangement, Johnson told his attorney Friday. MY COMMENT: The world does not revolve around Oprah.
NS

Re: Bahrain princess going back!
NewJehad
10/04/01 at 22:23:05
i thought this might happen. you know the thing about Muslim countries is that people there think that America is like jannah on earth. As that is how it is the propaganda makes it look. they don't really know that people have to work there. they think every one is rich and has loads of servents. but if people in a nation have servents, that means there are servents!!!! [Edited by Admin]

Re: Bahrain princess going back!
jannah
10/04/01 at 12:36:24
wlm, I feel sorry for her mostly, she was only 19 after all and no doubt lived a very exclusive life not very grounded in reality or islam. and then when she got here she probably realized it's nothing like the movies and tv and people are not very welcoming to foreigners (muslims) especially at times like this when some ignorant people's true colors come out.

Re: Bahrain princess going back!
BroHanif
10/04/01 at 23:55:25
As good old muslims we are happy to be at it again, thast being the judge, jury and executioner. We are so messed up that we take the joy in something like this. Not once have I heard anyone saying may Allah give her hidayat. For God's sake man even is she is a zalim, she is a muslim, has she forsaked her religion ?. And who knows we might be eating pork tomorrow and drinking alcohol like a fish. Allah most high is the one gives hidayat and takes hidayat. Is it so hard to make dua for someone nowadays ? What happened to the ummah of the prophet ? What happened to the muslims who looked at the faults of others as their own ? Just think if this sister went back and she faced friends or sisters who said similiar things in the post above, is that correct dawah, saying her punishment might be for fasting for one day ? Truly fasting for one day for Allah is better than fasting your whole life for name and fame. Man it makes me ashamed to say things like the one above. Seriously why is there so much infighting amongst us ? This is truly a time for reflection, because if are not concerned about the welfare of each and every human in the hearafter, forget the fact if s/he is a non muslim or muslim then are we  real muslims ?. Do we not care for a felllow human being is s/he was placed in the hell fire and denied Jannah ? Do we want people to have the ajaab of Allah ? The more we talk like this the more we are becoming bitter towards each other. We should read the story of our pious ancestors, like Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik, the shabas and then understand why Islam spread through character and not through lengthy sermons. Since when did the prophet saws not have a worry for his ummah ? We are all the ummah of the prophet saws and I can't understand, instead of giving people our hearts which should be filled with love and compassion we give them our hearts which are bitter and sharp. Seriously, we can't go on living like this. Islam may be growing, but the peoples hearts are sinking. [Edited by Admin]

Re: Bahrain princess going back!
se7en
10/05/01 at 00:00:02
good post bro hanif..

Re: Bahrain princess going back!
meraj
10/05/01 at 00:33:22
slm, i agree.. whether good muslims or bad muslims.. its not up for us to decide, or to mock them.. kinda reminds me of the ayah from the Qur'an: "[i]O you who believe! No people should mock or ridicule other people, for the ridiculed ones may be better than those who ridicule them...[/i]" [49:11]

Re: Bahrain princess going back!
Barr
10/05/01 at 10:49:47
Assalamu'alaikum :-) Granted that we start forming opinions of things from the evidences that we see and know, and thought that the "iceberg" is the small ice floating in the sea. But the larger portion below, we've yet to see.... Would we have acted the same way, if we are in the shoes of that person, having the same kind of mind and heart that are being shaped by her knowledge and experience of life? Maybe then, we could learn empathy. Maybe then, we would not stamp the judgement. And maybe... learn forgiveness and forbearance. Just my thoughts Allahua'lam :::Barr:::
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