Runaway Princess and Marine Love Story Fails!
Have you heard of the Bahraini princess Mariam Al Khalifa and the US marine Jason Johnsons story?
The story started in January 1999 when Johnson was sent to serve his duty for one year in Bahrain. Mariam Al-Khalifa is a relative of Bahrain’s king, Sheik Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa.
The couple met at a mall and immediately fell in love. Johnson was a strict Mormon Christian and she was a Muslim. After a series of incidents, which involved the secret police of Bahrain following the Princess with the young marine, her family were informed and ordered an end to the romance. However the young and hopeful couple continued to secretly exchange letters through a store employee at the mall.
Johnson managed to arrange a runaway plan in order to marry the princess. He forged military documents, making out that she was a US marine wanting to return to the states.
When the couple reached the states, Bahrain had informed the government of the princess' absence and Johnson was demoted and discharged from the Marines.
The couple married in Las Vegas on Nov. 16, 1999. Mariam was only 19!!! And since then she has been seeking asylum.
However within the past year, it has become known that the princess and the marine had a divorce, and she is seeing another rich LA businessman. Do you think that this childhood fantasy which lost her, her reputation (as a Muslim woman), her family and her luxurious lifestyle (as a princess) was worth it?
Do you believe that the princess is now being punished for her wrong doings and she should regret what she has done? Or do you see what she did as an act of great bravery, courage and determination?
She has not been banned from the Bahrain apparently; however she has decided not to return to the Bahrain in fear of her life. Her family issued a statement which firmly said that they would not harm or hurt Princess Mariam Al Khalifa in any way, shape or form if she decided to return.
What punishment do you think she should encounter? If she should be punished at all?
Finally has it become more common for young Muslim girls, who feel that they are suppressed by their families to runaway in modern day society?
Give us your views on this story.
By guest writer Sarah
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i saw the movie about her and him. She use to reading his letter everyday without her father noticing and she decide to run away with him. When she run away with him to USA they caught in the airplane because her want her back. ooh her father is very mad. He want someone to find her for a 4 million dollar.
I want that money and i will find her someday.
I think she should be punished what she done.
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well idunno wat to say its a disgrace...it might sound wonderful and romantic but fairytales dont exist in this real world and anyone who was selfish enough to run away from home and from their family the most ppl who r supposed to be trusted and stand by ur side then soon not too long later they'll run away from the one they love...and see wat happened she got divorced and not to mention wat harm she might have done to her families reputation espicially that shes a princess..
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Yeah, im an american muslem living in the states, and to say the truth i don't think that the article was in any way biased. It only put forward the story then gave open questions that would suit everyone for example.what punishment should she encounter- if she should be punished at all. this is suggesting that maybe she shudnt b punished and therefore does not offfer one view/
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hayda shi ghareeb. bass bi ra2yeh ghalat min il ameea inha ta3moul hayk. ayb 3laya. nice discussion by the way! i was shocked when i read the discussion!
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to add to my comments before, i dont think she should be punished in any way becouse she has done a good job so far punishing herself and she will be suffering the rest of her life for it when she realises what she has done to herself and her family and loved ones, as i said she has made her bed and choices now we should let her live with them and that will be punishment that she has bring onto her self and no ones hands are dirty for it eccept her own and she has only herself to blame for it and nobody else.
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i agree with cemsultan....and i guess her realtives n the people she knows wont be the same with her again so i think thats enough punishment for her
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the girl is so dumb first she run away with a marine guy and then divorce him after seven years. and know she is going to get married rich man. she destroy her family and her father the one got insulting from his people. haram aliek hatam tey abouky allah la yasah mahiek. she is now like the crazy western once you come in there, you never go back.
ASTAGHFIRALLAH
ya arab aibaad anenahh alshar.
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ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS THAT THIS GIRL IS A FOOL. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS LOVE.
I cannot understand the concept of love. of giving up everything to be with someone. only childish ppl who lack self confidence fall in love. theres plenty of fish in the sea, so why give up all your comfort and luxuries to be with a particular person. yukkkkk! just find someone.MOI HAS SPOKEN!!!!
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JUST FIND SOMEONE ELSE*
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she is not ONLY A FOOL BUT MORE THAN CAHOONTAS FOOL.
I HOPE SHE WILL married A SHORT man 3"0" height.
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Im really happy with a lot of the comments that have already been regarding this story. This girl disobeyed her family and her nation and has just made the muslim religion more frowned upon infront of westerners for they already think that women are not allowed to do as they please without being disowened by their families. The truth is that women have lots of righs that are never described in the news, the only thing cnn cares about are the stories that make the muslim religon look bad. It bugs me to see that. This girl not only disappointed her parents but as well a whole religion. I strongly believe that this girl is going no where in life and has made the biggest mistake ever.
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well i live in USA and i saw that story first in local news in los angeles where i live ,because that stupid girl lived there at that time ,than we saw her in oprah, she was not shy at all she had the guts to say ta she did what she did for love , than opera told her....honey u are only 18 you stilla stoo young to make judgments and she told her that she will regret it when is older, thats what oprah said and opera is nto a muslim so how about us muslims , i was so mad and sad at the same time . than she went to holywood and the made a movie called the princess and hte marines. that was long time ago like 5 6 years ago . why waleg is talking about it now ??? why nobody siad anything in 1999????shame ...
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I've watched this movie a couple of weekes ago. I live in the US and the movie was going on at lifetime channel. I liked the movie but I don't agree with what she did....I think they should put the movie on TV overseas so everybody could see what that pincess did....its a shame.
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i wanna see the mooviee :( any ideas where i could?
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Lots of thing like this happened in Iraq, too. Like this one.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/22/1077384632877.html
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TO MOI
You said you are not Lebanese, However you seem to suffer from the same delusions of grandour that some of our fellow Lebanese do.Is it the case of "3asher alkaom 3arb3een yaom" Really the name and the Caps says it all, I have to admit I still find you funny though vulgar.
THE LOVE PART I HAVE TO AGREE WITH, THE KEY IS TO FIND A MAN(IN YOUR CASE A WOMAN I THINK) THAT IS OPEN TO EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING, SO YOU CAN ENJOY THE LUXURY OF BOTH WORLDS,THE COMPANIONSHIP AND THE FISH IN THE SEA.
Did not write my name because my little sisters read this, do not want to corrupt their minds.
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ouffff.. another sad DISAPPOINTING story :( why does this always happen??? how come every single person i've ever known to marry someone against their parents will end up divorced... and then everyone's like "tsk tsk see wat happens when u dont listen to ur parents"....
yes i guess no man is worth losing ur parents or anything else valuable for...
i wanna believe in LOVE though :( im sad now
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she does not look like 19 in the picture-she looks at least 30! anyway its sad and wrong what she did but im sure she wasnt thinking at that time cuz she was like 19 and she really thought that she was in love and that he would love her and live with her 4 the rest of her life. i am sure she definitely regrets 4 what she did but thats toooooooooo late!
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LEBANESE,
have we met before?
this is my first day on waleg ;)
MOI HAS SPOKEN!!!!
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I tink that she is a very stupid women, I mean didnt she find i man the full in love whit in bahrain she i very stupid i mean what are happening in the arabic world...
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What ia happening in hte arabic world???? now here is a very good question,for centuries now we have developed a culture and way of life that has values which are uniqe and wonderfull,we have the closesness and love for our family,relatives and friends and contury unlike any in the world.Belive me when they see the love and effection we have for eachother you can see the last in the eyes of any western sociaty who will never feel and experiance the kind of love and emotions that we have in their lifes.In western sociaty dont look for a girl or a boy that will be a virgin after the age of belive it or not 13 or 14 years and by the time they are 17 or 18 their own mother and father kicks them out of their house to go on their own and survive.And to add to that most of those children are from a what they call here a broken marriage families and belive me in western sociaty marriage is not love anymore but its a bussenes and out of every 1o couple that say gets married today 5 of them will end up in divorce within the first 2 years and another 3 within 5 years and 1 may survive the 10 years, now can you see what happens to that sociaty??? It creates criminals, it creates phsicopaths, it creates strip clubs, strippers and hoockers,it creates voilance amoung young kids that has no love of family and belive me thats how gangs are so big here becouse those kids have only one family and that is others like themselfs and thats how they survivve and the rich here promotes prostitution and other activities publicly by the way of moddeling,its actors,violent movies, movies with hate for the arabs,sex is the biggest bussenes in western sociaty becouse it sells, everthing is for sale here including from 13 year old girl to a grandmother, and they will sell their soul if they have any? their wives, children,and families for MONEY,they have no values like we do and even the church here is the biggest buseness becouse thats the only place they feel a little human and belive me they have to pay for that too, did you know americans goes to church and ask for forgivness in a single day then all of europa put togeather in a month??But one thing they got that we dont have is sound economy and technologie,if we want to take anything from the west is and should be their tecnologie and not way of their life. I can see in middle east that our young taking the worst examples of the west, our singers and actors promoting nakedness and taking more clothes off everyday and forgetting about our values and chepeaning yhe value of women, having more plastic surgery to put out a message that beuty is outside and not within, theses are wrong and it is not a good message to our young ones to think it is ok.And i can see the west coming into our sociaty and stealing our oil and trying to currupt our young and belive me its not the first time they done this, they wiped out the language and the culture of nations all over the world and turned them into rare species with no culture and honor left and stripped them off all of their God given rights, so beaware my brothers and friends what seeams to be new and exiting to our young now could be the end of our culture and values that we will be gathering over the centuries.We as arabs have beaten the devil in its own game but this one is a totally different kind and we should be ready and prepared and should know now what kind of an evil we are dealing with.May God help us all becouse i can see this devil intergrating more and more into our sociaty under the cover of we are only here to do right and help and provide justice which is the biggest bullshit i ever heard my brothers.
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I have one thing to say...this girl is proberbly so spoilt that she thought she could have anything she wanted. But it tipped on her family's head. What she did is wrong, im not against any religion...but i believe that you have to follow what your religion and culture asks, so she went against her religion first, then she went against her family, no matter wat she does in the future she will never be successful because she broke them two rules!! What a shame...and evidence that shes spoilt..is the fact thats she ran off with another rich american!! THE FILM IS SO GOOD THOUGH AND THE GUY WHO ACTS AS THE MARINE IS SOOOOOOO HOTT!!
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Nada: I read that article on the Iraqi doctor who married an American soldier. What's your point? They haven't divorced yet. Are you complaining about a marriage between two ethnic groups? What's your point. By the way...I know of many Arabs who marry other Arabs and who are MISERABLE. There is absolutely no parallel. This lady Ehdaa's family has supported her decision while the princess' family did not support her. So, the issue that you really need to address is whether people should marry without parental consent.
Just to give you an idea...I have a friend whose husband forced her to have 2 abortions and they are millionaires. I have another friend whose husband took on a second wife.
Quit looking for others to be miserable. It's simply none of your business. What, do you think that you have the entire MONOPOLY on Arabs and Muslims and their actions?
Get a life.
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DEAR MOI
I have yet to be graced with the honour of knowing your highness.
Gee did you open the comments to see how people responded to your important input.
It is my first day on WALEG too.
OOPS I SPELT GRANDEUR WRONG.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU.
LOVE TO READ YOUR COMMENTS.
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hey people what is your problem, am not doing anything wrong i just dont like him any more and i will married again. I dont care about my family, their too stric and stupid . You know i have the right, too. i could do whatever i want.
SO ITS NOT YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
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I CAN NOT BELIVE??? first of all i dont think for a second that you are Mariam, but by some faint chance that you are let me tell you why it is our bussenes, you come from a long line of honorable family who has dignity, honor and royalty and we the arabs recognise that and respect it and and as a member of this family you are given the right to not only honor the family but you are olso a representative of the people of Bahrain and you are soppose to be the best example of them and what your contry represents you silly little imature girl.We arabs have centuries not years build a sociaty that has values that are unique and clean family values, you soppose to be the first to recognise and honor that and not trow it away becouse you have this anvy for western way of life which is consits of everything but honor, so if you wish to continue being a slave of western man change your name and deonounce your roots and go to the hell that you so much last for and live the rest of us and your family a lone, i can not belive how much pain and suffering you might have couse them aldready, i dont feel sorry for you anymore nor do i have an aunce of mercy, you are a hore who betrayed her own family, people and the contry and have no shame, you are far goon baby,your father must be regreting the day you were born and the love he has given you and your mother must be saying "haram" even the milk she feed you from her own brest, i hope they publicly disowne you soon and strip you of existance and your name and may Gods rage be on to you in this life and the next.You have betrayed and sold us and our belifs and honor and as you know in our belifs the "BETRAYEL IS WORCE THEN A RAPE" we disown you as people of arab nations and may you burn in hell.
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DEAR LEBANESE,
can you give me a clue of who you are. you may visit the place you think you met me before in and leave a comment.
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to my friends and brothers MOI and LEBANESE pls lets take this issue more seriusly pls as it is an attack to core of our beings as arabs and our sociaty my friends and our belifs i would very much appriceate and be thankfull and i am a royalty myself and this is a very touchy subget for me, thank you my friends,.........M...... AL SAUD
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cemsultan you are absolutley right in everything u said. People are not taking it serious. to be honesy with you, its none of our bussiness tho...coz no one is perfect and everyone will be punished for themselves we cannot change people, we should look at our own mistakes, but for someone who is in the public eye eg a PRINCESS she has to watch what she is doing because she can lead a whole generation into the same path that she has gone. Its not her fault that she is a princess but thats her luck..she has to take the responsibility and BEHAVE LIKE ONE! not like a child who wants everything by force!
Hapy new year to all!
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yeah is not her fault, crazy people.
CEMSULTAN is that a threatin nice try.am her huge fan hahahahaha.....ha....ha.
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Can i just say GROW UP! how sad are u guys on here? you are so immature this is just an article for people to read and broaden their intellect, then give their opinions. Not for sad people to rite unwanted comments! get a life and if u have something valuable to say then say it. i RESPECT everyones opinion on this subject whether i agree with them or not! So stop taking the rip outa people who have an opinion (and a valuable one at that). If you wannt to be rude and dirty find another web page. Waleg isnt for rudeness! thank you.
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SHE IS NOT THE FIRST OR THE LAST TO FOLLOW HER HEART(WHETHER SHE WAS A PRINCESS OR A PAUPER).
I have tried to leave so called valuable comments on this website to be met with comments like lighten up and the likes.
Also MOI's comments teach me so much, they are a way for me to BROADEN my intellect.
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I am so happy to see that we all sheare the same wievs on this matter my friends,thank you, rally, at times when the west finds a story like this once they go public and let everybody know on tv,books and make movies about it but not becouse it is a good story that makes us look good but becouse it shames us, they never tell the wonderfull stories that we have and never like to show the good things about us in the fear that may be more of them will come and join and agree with us and befriend us, when i was wisiting Arizona they put not a real picture of me but a drowing with me wearing Jellebia and diomond and cash coming out of my pockets on their local magazine and i left that city never to go back again.That tells you how they see us not as a sociaty that its culture and belifs to be respected and understood but as a barrel of cash to be had or cjicked that needs to be robbed or plucked, prime example is for us to ask to ourselfs now is Irak,how do you think USA is paying their militeries presence there?? you may as well ask yourself where is Irak,s oil is going to right now?? Irakies do you think??? no my friends drfinitly not.Any way thank you again for your sopport in this matter from my heart really.
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am new here and nice site.
I saw the movie and it’s disgusting they are just craziest people I ever seen but guy is cute. Why he always get naked in the drama maybe he don’t have underwear’s.
To LEBANESE,for your information I was talking about her silly. if your smart dolphin cannot married a human, is suppose to be a human male married a female human. And dolphin cant married a dolphin BE-CA-USE THE-IR AN-IM-ALS. if the lady is going to cry she probably a mental or handicap.
And Your name Lebanese IT’S a country name, not use it for name address, duh. even my classmates cannot spell their names god help those young people. I don’t come here and read your comments.
Why do people always asking me dumb questions?
my head hurt.
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Now you sound very two sided to me LEBANESE, Socialist and democratic at the same time, you cant say you belive in God yet dance with the devil , what is the point of it?? is it becouse just in case, ha ha ha???.
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WALEG
why did you erase my comments i didnt curse
by the way i like ur site.are u male or female?
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Dear malenda,
If your comment was related to the article and we deleted it, we appologize about that.
We had to delete some comments and your comment must be deleted by mistake, sorry.
"are u male or female?": our editors team composed of females and males.
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oh my gosh,
you people are so narrow minded, so what if she chose ot marry him, it is her CHOICE, she does not need her parents consent to marry or not, or whoever!!!
and why is it always a stigma when an ARAB FEMALE marrys a non-arab or a person from a different religion, millions of arab guys do that, and i'm very proud that girls are tresspassing such narrow, backword menality!
Besides, she is the one who wanted to divorce, and the poor american guy, said, she loved the freedom that she had in America, and therefore divorce was inevitable!so people stop judging people!!
and stop generlizing one case for other people, i know many successful marriages between different ethnicities/religions, actually there are more sucessful than ones who marry their their own cousins.
so people get a life, and stop being so negative and narrow minded!
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ok waleg thats okay
hey CEmSULTAN
did u know that her family want her dead and they trying to get her back by force. but they cant american protect her because she is princess. her family is really mad, they cannot even sleep. when she run away, she got scared that they will get caught. i cant even stand the picture of her. cow girl or woman whatever
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Maybe its time to remain USA that they have 376 trilion dollars of our not billion, trilion invested in their contry and if we ever pull it out and stop export of our oil they may go bankcrupt, and not to inerfere in our family affairs, what do you think??? do you think she will be coming home really quick then?? i think so but we have being much to nice about it and the problem is they in Bahrain happened to say no harm will come to her??? which is fine, but they dont belive and a person can in USA if they claim that their life is in danger if they return to their contry of origin can claim refugee status temporarily or protection of that government and she was married to a US citizen so it makes situation rather complicated i think.
maya
Dec 30, 2005
A story like million stories of love! a girl who gives up everything for the sake of her lover and then he gives her up and it happens to boys and men also... why do you want to make judges and comments?! is it because she is an Arab muslem and he is a christian from American?!
you are just trying to wage war and open the door for the discussion of senstive subjects this is not clean. Mind the style the essay is wriiten in, mind words like (punishment, encounter, muslim suppression and muslem runaway, harm, hurt ... etc) wt is this???????!!!!!!!!