Meriam Al Khalifa

For his role in helping Al Khalifa flee Bahrain, Johnson was court-martialed for "forging military papers," but because of all the media attention the case was getting, Johnson's punishment only consisted of him being stripped of his "Lance Corporal" rank, being demoted to "Private," the lowest rank in the United States Marine Corps. He was honorably discharged two months later.

Facing deportation from the United States, Al Khalifa applied for political asylum, citing that she faced harm, which, she claimed, could have included death, for her relationship and subsequent marriage to a non-Muslim, one who was not only a foreigner, but also an American, as well as for fleeing her native country illegally, without permission from her father or her government. In an interview with CBS News, Johnson and Al Khalifa said that if she returned to Bahrain, she would be "lashed, executed, stoned, killed, shot".[7] Johnson also told the press that there was constant tension with her family, and the FBI told him that they had intercepted a Syrian national who claimed he had been paid $500,000 to assassinate her.[8] Based on these fears, Al Khalifa was granted asylum in May 2001.[9]

In 2001, a made-for-TV movie based on her relationship with Jason Johnson, their flight from Bahrain to the U.S., and their elopement, The Princess and the Marine,[10] aired on NBC. It starred Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Johnson and Marisol Nichols as Meriam.[11] The movie reportedly "caused one of the biggest bidding wars for packaged rights in the history of television movies," estimated at more than $500,000.[12]

In May 2001, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service granted Al Khalifa Permanent Residency status, popularly known as a Green Card.[13] She also resumed communication with her family in Bahrain.[14]

Despite her earlier claims that she feared violence or death in her home country – an assertion that she had repeated in subsequent interviews – Al Khalifa returned to Bahrain in late 2001 to visit her family. She stated that she and her family were concerned about "violence aimed at people of Middle Eastern descent" after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.[15] She returned to Las Vegas at the end of year.

The couple filed for divorce on November 17, 2004 (one day after their fifth wedding anniversary) in Las Vegas, Nevada, citing "incompatibility in marriage."[16] According to Johnson, Al Khalifa had plunged heavily into the Las Vegas nightlife, subsequently leading to an estrangement. The couple had been considering divorce since 2001.[15]

In 2005, Johnson appeared on an episode of Divorce Court, sans Meriam, to plead his case.[17] The episode, numbered 1224, aired on January 31, 2005.[18]