Americans Held by Saudi Family Members

W A S H I N G T O N, June 15 -- For two years, Alexandria Davis says, she was held captive in Saudi Arabia.

"I was locked in the house. I was not [allowed to] talk to anybody because [my father] was afraid that I would, you know, contact an American woman or — or try and call my mom," Alexandria said.

Alexandria's American mother, Miriam Hernandez-Davis, says she was powerless to get her daughter back after her Saudi ex-husband took the girl to his homeland.

"In that country, I really had no recourse. I couldn't even go there to visit. I couldn't see her, and I couldn't get her out even though she was an American citizen."

Under Saudi law, a woman cannot leave the country without the permission of her husband, father or brother.

The House Government Reform Committee held a hearing Wednesday to look into the recurring problem of the abduction of American children to Saudi Arabia.

‘I Would Rather Die Than Stay Here’

Alexandria visited with her father and his family in Saudia Arabia every summer, but the year she turned 11, she says her father told her he wanted to extend her visit.

"When I asked him, that I wanted to start school and go back home, he told me to shut up, he started beating me, and he completely changed and flipped out on me. Out of nowhere," Alexandria said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America on Thursday.

Eventually, she was able to call her mother and tell her of the father's abuse. The House committee heard a recording of that call.

"You should have seen the look in his eyes. I don't know what's wrong with him. I can't stay here anymore. I would rather die than stay here," Alexandria is heard saying.

Alexandria's mother says she paid $180,000 to smuggle her daughter out two years after the girl was forced to stay.

Emotional Words on the Hill

The State Department says there are 46 cases, in addition to Alexandria's, in which more than 90 U.S. citizens are being held in Saudi Arabia.

Mothers and grandmothers of some of these other victims provided emotional testimony before the House panel.