NAJRAN, 24 March 2005 — While some youngsters their age sit in middle school classrooms, they languish in juvenile facilities. Later as the students reach adulthood and climb the platform to receive their diplomas, these boys climb another platform — not to get a diploma but rather the executioner’s blade.

Call it the problem of parents who tell their children to be men; call it the problem of teenage gangs that lead kids down the wrong paths, or call it a cultural problem where behavior lauded a century ago cannot be tolerated in a modern society. Whatever you call it, it’s the sad story of a few young Saudi boys who literally are born to die.

It starts when, for one reason or another, boys who should be studying in school or playing soccer with friends are pushed to act like adults. They lack the wisdom of adults and the strength of character of adults, but their small hands have the strength to pull the trigger of a pistol or thrust the blade of a knife.

The result is the same — take a life and lose your own.

Al-Watan looked at this shocking problem and found the stories behind the boys who were born to die.

Pushed by a Gang

Khaled, a 13-year-old boy, was a successful student who dreamed of becoming someone important when he grew up. He began associating with a group of students older than him who convinced him that he was among friends.

That trust was shattered when he became a victim of a gang rape. The boys warned him that if he said something he would be in deep trouble with his family, friends and society. They even told him that if his family found out they would kill him.

He believed them and kept quiet. After a while, they gathered on him again and started to make fun of him and called him a girl. He knew that they had told people of the gang rape.

Consumed with anger, Khaled went home and took his father’s gun. He returned to school and shot his so-called friends, killing one and sending two to the intensive care unit. The boy was arrested and jailed, awaiting adulthood to face execution.

Big Knife, Little Boy

Hamad, at the age of 12, fought with his classmate. With encouragement from other children in the class, he swore that they would continue the fight outside school like adults. He hid a knife and brandished it during the fight to scare his friend. A stab wound proved fatal to the youngster.

Hamad wanted to be looked at as a man who could take care of himself — not as a coward. He was lodged in juvenile facilities until he reached adulthood, when he was transported to a prison and executed.

Bad Advice From Baba

Manie is another youngster who fought with a neighbor friend. He was badly beaten by his friend and came back home crying.

When he told his family, his father was angry with him and considered him as weak and cowardly. He told his son to take matters into his own hand so he would be proud of him.

Manie took a large knife and went to retaliate. He stabbed him to death and proudly went back to his father to tell him what he did. He was arrested and incarcerated until adulthood and execution.

The family of E.M., a middle school student, paid the heavy price for their neglect and failure to monitor their child. E.M. disagreed with his friend in the neighborhood. Neither parent did anything to resolve the disagreement. Both children agreed to settle the dispute the “man’s way.”

They brought weapons and knifes and some friends to engage in a brawl. After school, they got into a gang-like rumble, where E.M. stabbed a friend in the neck, killing him instantly. Now E.M. is in a juvenile prison dying many times every day waiting for the day he will die once and forever.

Parental Neglect

“A child is never born a criminal,” said Dr. Latifa Al-Saleh, a psychological specialist at Asir Psychiatric Hospital who knows firsthand that child crime is common nowadays in the south — especially in rural areas. “There are many factors that turn a child into a criminal, like the way the families raise their children, family violence, addiction to TV violence, bad friends and drugs,” she said.

The psychologist said that good role models are vital for youngsters.

“Parental and paternal supervision are very important,” Al-Saleh said. “The role of the educational institution also is very important in guiding children away from crime. Schools must enforce strict laws against trouble-making students inside school.”

For many youngsters, tomorrow is a day when a parent can offer a loving hand and guidance to a world of wondrous opportunity, a day when a teacher can put a stop to a problem before it begins or society can make sure its culture recognizes that boys who someday will be men are still just boys and treats them that way.

But for other youngsters who were born to die, tomorrow is one day closer to the executioner’s blade.