JEDDAH, 18 March 2005 — Teams from the anti-beggary department have arrested four families consisting of 20 members for begging, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.
The families, who claimed to be Saudis but without IDs, were begging for money in the villages near Taif. The anti-beggary department tried to hand them over to the department that deals with overstayers but it would not accept them until their identities are established.
Rajeh Ahmad Al-Khawari, one of the arrested persons, said they came from Jizan. “We are in all 500 people. We live in Jizan and we do not have proper documents that confirm that we are Saudis. We are originally from Al-Laith. We applied for Saudi citizenship a long time back... We do not know what happened to our papers,” he said.
Khaled Hussein Al-Khawari said: “We are tired of living without identity. We cannot do anything without identity. I am married and I have a child and he has never been to school because he does not have any identity to prove that he is a Saudi. Our children are suffering a lot. That is why we are forced to beg. We beg for money in the villages far away from Taif to escape from the anti-beggary department. So many Saudis sympathize with our sad situation and that is how we have survived until now.”
He added, “It is very difficult for us to travel from one place to another. The car that we use for transportation belongs to a Saudi and we have a permit from him to use the car.”
The women members of the group were using family cards of some other Saudis for transportation. They said they do not know the owners of the family cards they hold. They said they use these family cards in government departments and also when they visit hospitals.
The head of the anti-beggary department in Taif, Jabr Juaied, said they came across similar cases in the past. “Our job is to arrest those who practice beggary on the streets. In the case of these people, we tried to hand them over to the department dealing with overstayers but they refused to receive them until their identities were confirmed. We do not know where to send them now. Should we hand them over to charity organizations or simply deport them through the Passports Department?” he asked.
