JEDDAH, 19 August 2006 — The 20-year-old Pakistani woman Zarni involved in a sexual abuse case says that the culprit is not her father but a scorned suitor and his collaborators.

“My father never raped me,” she said. “I never said that he did. I only knew that this was being said of my father when I was told what was published in the paper.”

In June, Zarni told Arab News through a translator that her father, Mohammad Yacoub Jamali, had sexually assaulted her over a period of three years.

In an interview with the family on Thursday, Zarni says that the issue revolves around Kashif, a 32-year-old Pakistani neighbor who had expressed a desire to marry her and with whom she now says she had an affair for over a year.

When asked about her initial statements, Zarni said Umm Abdul Aziz, who first encouraged her to go to the National Society for Human Rights with her complaint, had made the incorrect allegations. Zarni said that Umm Abdul Aziz asked her not to speak Arabic and that she would speak on her behalf. It was Umm Abdul Aziz who made the rape allegations to the media and the authorities, Zarni said. “I was scared so I did what they asked me to do,” she said.

Zarni blames Kashif for conspiring to make these allegations against her father and alleges that he threatened to kill her and her father. Because of these threats, she said she agreed to have the affair.

Last week, Umm Abdul Aziz told the media she fears that Zarni would be sent back to Pakistan to be murdered as a victim of an honor killing, a claim Zarni refuted. “My father won’t do that,” she said. “Thank God I’m happy now that I’m back home.”

Zarni had spent a week at the battered women’s shelter in Jeddah before she was sent to Briman Prison for reasons that are as yet unclear. She spent 25 days in jail and was later released.

Kashif alleged last week that the family had asked for a SR11,000 dowry for Zarni’s hand in marriage. Her grandfather, Delshad Jamali, denies this. “That’s all a lie and we did not take any money,” he said. “We will never marry him our daughter for all the money in the world after what he has done.”

Jamali, Zarni’s father, said that he never had any interaction with Kashif, who was a neighbor in the apartment building in Jeddah’s Al-Aziziya neighborhood, which is home to a sizable Pakistani community.

“I was confused and surprised I did not know what to do after seeing my daughter accusing me of raping her in a newspaper,” said Zarni’s father.

Regarding allegations of video evidence showing Jamali sexually abusing his daughter, Zarni told Arab News that it is Kashif, not her father in the video.

Zarni’s mother said that they went to the Pakistani Consulate for help on June 7, but officials there said there was nothing they could do. Arab News contacted the consulate last week and was told the family had never approached them.

The father, who is currently unemployed, said that he was worn down by the whole situation and claims to be the target of Kashif’s threats.