JEDDAH: A 19-year-old woman who was residing temporarily in a government-run women’s shelter attempted suicide on Friday when she was told she would be sent back to her family.
The young woman reportedly took an overdose of an unknown medication and was rushed to King Abdulaziz Hospital to have her stomach pumped, according to Al-Madinah newspaper. She is in stable condition.
The woman, along with a sister, claims to have been verbally, physically and sexually abused by her family and has been residing for the past six weeks at the shelter, run by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Additionally, the young woman said the shelter staff told her that because she was not a Saudi citizen, she should not have been allowed to remain at the center for more than 15 days.
“The supervisor of the shelter tried to force me to go back to my house, so I thought of putting an end to my life,” she added. “They told me that they would bring the police to take me back home or to jail — and I didn’t commit any crime to go there. That was when I decided to lock myself in the bathroom and take the pills.”
The director of the nongovernmental executive committee that supervises the shelter, Lafi Al-Balawi, told Arab News that they investigate any case they receive before any action is taken.
“Our social specialists investigate any sexual, verbal and physical abuse cases we receive,” said Al-Balawi.
“After we examined the two girls and spoke to their family, we found out that there were no signs of any abuse whatsoever. We tried to convince the girls to go back to their family but they refused,” he said.
Ali Al-Hinaki, the general director of Social Affairs for Makkah province, said the case is still being investigated and the girl is in a stable condition.
