The father has decided, for the second year in a row, to not allow his children to go to school, said Naser Al-Omar, a member of the NSHR in Al-Makhwah. He added that all efforts to convince the man otherwise have so far failed.

The man has four children; the youngest is in the second grade and the rest are in advanced stages of school. The problem began last year when he decided, for no reason at all, to stop them from attending school. The local education department and the NSHR then decided to get help from the governorate, which managed to get the father agree to allow the children to go to school.

He also signed a letter promising he would not prevent his children from going to school. The children were, however, stopped again this year. The committee is, as a result, still trying to find a way to force him to return the children to school.

Matouq Al-Shareef, a member of the NSHR in Makkah, said efforts are continuing with the father who is still insisting on preventing the children from going to school.

“At the end, the children would be returned to school whether he likes it or not because it is the children’s right,” he said.

A number of lawyers said that since the father has broken his promise and prevented his children from going to school, they will be returned to school by law and removed from his custody.

A young woman was recently removed from her father’s custody because he prevented her from studying at university in Riyadh.