DAMMAM: It never crossed Hussein Al-Saeed’s father’s mind when he said goodbye to his son three years ago it would be the last time he would see him. Every day that passes seems like a year to him. The father still has hope that he will find his son one day.

Hussein asked his father if he could go out and play with his friends, local daily Shams reported. Hussein used to spend his free time at a local farm in the city of Safawi in Qatif, east of the Kingdom. His father let him go, as it was summertime.

They went to the beach and played for a little while before they came back home. On the way they were racing with their bikes and Hussein was last when he suddenly disappeared. When the friends noticed he was missing they went looking for him and found only his bike. They searched the farms nearby and there was no sign of him. They told his father who organized a search party with neighbors and his friends but there was no sign of him.

Police still have not found Hussein. They distributed pictures of the young boy all over the province in shopping centers, malls and websites appealing for information. The father, however, received an anonymous SMS telling him that Hussein was in good condition, without revealing his location.

There is a famous case involving Ebtihal bint Sultan Al-Motairy, the three-year-old girl who went missing from her home in 2006. Riyadh police made a public appeal for information at the time.

“The security officers have been dealing with this case with utmost responsibility considering the condition of the girl’s parents and relatives. They had carried out a massive search for the girl in her neighborhood in Majmaa soon after her brother informed them that she was missing,” the governorate said in its statement at the time. Ebtihal went missing from her home in Majmaa, 200 km north of Riyadh.

Another incident involved a nine-year-old child who was abducted in front of his house in Riyadh and taken to a desert. The child was then abandoned in the area and walked long distances before spotting the main road. Even now the child does not know why he was kidnapped but it has affected him psychologically and forced him to live in isolation.

Spokesman for Dammam police Brig. Gen. Yousuf Al-Qahtani said kidnapping cases are very rare. He added it was only treated as abduction once certain criteria were fulfilled. It was not a kidnapping case if both parties knew each other. He said kidnappers were usually strangers who use force or threats and often ask for ransom.

Social specialist Amal Al-Jashi, says the media plays an important role in publicizing kidnapping cases to the extent victims became icons.

She said, “Some of the kidnapping cases involve moral crimes that affect the victims’ psychological state. It also affects the family. The family sometimes refuses to report missing family members and some of them refuse to take them after they are found, fearing social stigma.” She said that there is an urgent need to rehabilitate kidnap victims.

Psychology specialist and school guide Asaad Namr says a kidnap victim should be surrounded by love and comfort and never blamed for being abducted.