News Of Young Saudi Woman Fleeing Her Home Recalls Story Told In 1980 Docudrama

The recent headlines about a Saudi Arabian woman taken in by Canada after fleeing her country, and a princess of Dubai who tried to flee, bear some resemblance to something that happened more than four decades ago.

Saudi Princess Mishaal bint Fahd al Saud was found guilty of adultery when she was 19, in 1977, and she was publicly executed alongside her lover. The event was re-created in the 1980 docudrama "Death of a Princess." The film was a co-production with England's Associated Television Corporation and journalist Antony Thomas, and PBS and WGBH in Boston and documentary filmmaker David Fanning.

Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Fanning, who went on to found Frontline, where he is now executive producer at large.