A 50-year-old businesswoman is suing her 24-year-old brother for allegedly demanding huge sums of money in exchange for his permission to allow her to travel and sort out paperwork at government departments.

In the lawsuit filed at the Jeddah General Court, the woman claims that she raised her brother after their father died. When he became her guardian at the legal age, he started demanding money for various activities, she alleged.

Sources said the brother allegedly forced her to pay SR10,000 to allow her to travel, SR5,000 if his presence was required at any of the service departments, and large sums of money to allow her to marry. She had not been able to get married because of this alleged abuse.

Baian Zahran, a lawyer, said that the woman must prove that her brother is guilty of extortion if she wants the court to allow her to be her own guardian.

In a similar case, a 30-year old Saudi woman has sought legal help after she discovered that her uncle, who has been her legal guardian since her parents died in an accident in Jeddah when she was a child, had been manipulating things to keeping her single.

According to Al Arabiya.net, several individuals had approached her uncle asking him for her hand in marriage.

But he turned them all down. When she finally dared to ask him about the reason, he told her he would not allow her to get married until she paid him nearly half a million riyals, which her parents had left for her.

According to her lawyer, the woman finally gave in to the uncle’s demand who immediately approved her marriage.