The seven-year-old girl was not the first one that was insulted for baseless reasons, beaten and slaughtered. She will not definitely be the last as long as officials in the Kingdom continue trying to prove to the public that the parents were mentally ill. Do not try to convince us that the parents were crazy; such people never revisit the scene of a crime — criminals do.
Until when will small defenseless girls suffer under the hands of abusive fathers? There are hundreds of girls and boys suffering from such parents and I have received many e-mails from them. Do we have to wait until half the girls in one area die, having been abused by their parents, before the authorities take any proactive steps? Do we have to wait for them to issue a new law?
Some of the stories of torture that we hear and see are perhaps worse than what we have heard about Guantanamo Bay or Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian territories. Some of the things that happen behind doors remain a secret — we never get to know anything about them.
Why has the abusive father not been punished? He should be made an example for all abusive fathers. People should not assume that parents that frequently go to the mosque are necessarily pure. They are human and all humans make mistakes. Fathers sometimes severely punish their daughters because they, for example, leave the air-conditioning units switched on. Not to mention the fact that they then shout at the mother and put the blame on her for not raising their daughter properly.
Every mother and daughter in this country should be protected by the government. The authorities should do something to put an end to child and women abuse regardless of whether the one raising the hand is the father, brother or son. Proactive action needs to be taken from the school level. We should teach our daughters their basic rights and how they should report abuse and harassment. They should be taught how to complain when they are abused. To the authorities I have one message: Do not leave our daughters to die at the hands of cold-blooded killers. It is impossible that half the people in this Kingdom are mentally ill.
Until when are we going to keep secret the incidents that happen in our homes? Abuse should be made public and discussed in the Shoura Council to instigate them to issue a law to ban such beatings. We should issue laws against parents who say: “It is my daughter and I am free to do what I want.” There should be a committee of women visiting schools to increase awareness among girl students and discover abuse cases.
