RIYADH, 28 December 2004 — The National Guard in Tabuk region, north of the Kingdom, detained a 14-year-old boy trying to enter Saudi Arabia last week from Jordan through Halat Ammar. The boy managed to cross the well-guarded border and entered Saudi territory on foot after using a car to reach the border. He surprised the National Guard officers who spotted him by surveillance cameras.
The boy who was starving for days was given food and drink before the officials questioned him. Asked why he undertook such a risk, he said he was missing his Saudi father who had not come to see him and his mother in Jordan for a long time. Previously, he used to visit them often. The son missed him so much that he left home in search of the father without even telling his mother.
It was an emotional reunion when the boy’s father came over to see him after he was contacted by the National Guard.
The boy will be under custody for 10 days according to the law and will be deported to Jordan. His father who had married the Jordanian woman without official permission can in the meantime set right his son’s legal status and register him with the concerned Saudi authority.
