MAKKAH — A committee has been formed at Al-Mansour Maternity and Children’s Hospital at the request of local police to examine a six-year-old boy to determine if his mother was physically abusing him.

Al-Madinah newspaper reported that the boy’s paternal grandfather is accusing the mother, who had custody of the boy, of repeatedly burning and bruising him.

Three years ago the court gave custody of Rakan Al-Barakati, who at the time was 3, to his mother.

“After the court ruled in favor of the mother, Rakan stayed with her but he was tortured repeatedly,” said Ghalib Al-Barakati, the boy’s grandfather.

He said the court had given Rakan’s custody to his mother even after she was found to be suffering from depression.

After complaints of abuse by his mother, the grandfather was given custody of the boy by the investigators.

“The committee approved that Rakan would stay in my custody with the consent of both the father and the mother, while continuing to follow the situation of his abuse,” he added.

“Torturing her son was not enough for her. She had also prevented the boy’s father and me from visiting him. We filed a complaint with the court to allow us to see Rakan. In 2006, the court issued the decision allowing us to visit him twice a month despite our disagreement on the verdict.”

The grandfather says that the boy was afraid to reveal how he had marks on his body.

“Rakan is afraid to tell us what happened, obviously because of threats from his mother,” the grandfather said. “A couple of days ago, we found signs of burns all over his body. He burst out crying and asked us not to send him back to his mother’s house.”

The grandfather says Rakan described how his mother used to close the room’s door where she lives with her family and raises the volume of the television and begin torturing him for small mistakes. He said that she tortured him for things like opening the refrigerator for drinking water.

“We went to the Human Rights Commission to complain but unfortunately they told us to go to the Investigation and Prosecution Committee, which also refused to take up Rakan’s case. They asked us to go to the police or the governorate,” Al-Barakati said.

“I want to stay here with my grandfather and I don’t want to go back to my mother,” Rakan reportedly said.

Abdulmohsen Al-Maiman, official spokesman for Makkah police, said that investigations are still in progress in the case and in the light of the medical report proper action will be taken.