JEDDAH, 25 August — The 11-year-old Saudi boy who was deported to Yemen by passport officials for failing to convince them of his true identity joined his mother and uncles on Thursday after his father refused to receive him from Saudi border guards.
According to Al-Madinah newspaper, Yousuf, the boy, disclosed his identity to Yemeni police when he came down with malaria. He was then taken to a Sanaa hospital for treatment before the Yemeni authorities made arrangements for his return to Saudi Arabia.
The mother embraced her son warmly, saying she had not seen him for two years. The boy was under the guardianship of his father during that time, who had demanded SR100,000 to hand him over to his mother and uncles.
According to Al-Madinah, the boy ran away from his father to put pressure on his mother and uncles to pay the money so that he could stay with them.
The Passport Department in the Asir region said they will investigate the circumstances that led to Yousuf’s deportation. An official source at the department added that they could not find the name of the boy among the list of those deported during the past two months.
The boy was reportedly not on good terms with his father and was emotionally stressed after his father divorced his mother. In a more sinister twist to the tale, however, his school teacher said one day he even came to school with his hands and legs chained.
Okaz newspaper said the boy intentionally did not disclose his identity when passport officers detained him while running away with two Yemenis.
Meanwhile, another Saudi boy who was kidnapped and held for ransom in Yemen returned to the Kingdom on Wednesday.
But the tragedy does not end here: the boy is now suffering from mental problems caused by the abduction. His mother told Okaz that Raad ibn Ali Mansour Al-Sharif was taken to hospital soon after his return. “This morning, when he got up, we found that he was behaving strangely,” she said.
