MAKKAH, 12 January 2007 — An Indian family was reunited with their missing girl on Wednesday thanks to a report published in Al-Riyadh newspaper. Following a report on the girl, whose name is Fatima, readers responded with a flurry of information.
The girl, who is deaf and mentally disabled, is in good health at a Makkah hospital. The father, Hafiz Sayed, expressed gratitude to the readers that responded. “This kind of support is not a new thing for the people of this country where I have lived for 20 years,” he said.
Reports of a Jane Doe being admitted to a hospital for exhaustion were called in to the paper. The young girl turned out to be Fatima. No information was available regarding her disappearance, and she is unable to communicate what had happened to her.
Corpse Found Hanging From Tree
JEDDAH, 12 January 2007 — Police are investigating the death of a 27-year-old Pakistani national identified as Mohamed Ayub whose body was found hanging in a tree in an area close to King Abdul Aziz Airport. Security officers were unsure whether the death was the result of foul play or suicide. The body was taken for postmortem examination. According to documents found with the body, Ayub was a restaurant employee.
Forced Marriage: Girl Flees Parents
RIYADH, 12 January 2007 — Two youths were arrested for providing shelter to a runaway girl in Riyadh, reported Al-Riyadh newspaper yesterday. According to the paper the 14-year-old girl ran away from her family because they were forcing her to marry a man in his 40s. The Commission of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice claimed that the two young men who sheltered the girl were sexually abusing her. The parents were publicly condemned but not charged for arranging a marriage.
Space Heaters Take 6 Lives Since November
AHSA, 12 January 2007 — House fires caused by space heaters have resulted in six deaths and 25 injuries since the start of the cold weather two months ago, Al-Watan reported yesterday. Director of Civil Defense in Ahsa told the paper that improperly used space heaters have been the cause of these accidents. A fire erupted Wednesday night in a second floor apartment in Al-Shihabia district in Hofuf due to an electrical short in a water heater.
