TAIF: An 11-year-old Saudi girl ran away from her father’s home in Taif for the fourth time on Tuesday, alleging she is being abused by her stepmother. Her father, however, hit back at the allegations citing official bodies, which have found no evidence of abuse.
The girl, called Sarah, fled to a neighbor’s home and locked herself inside a bathroom there when her father came to collect her. The father then contacted the police who opened the door and took the girl to hospital.
Police said Sarah was in a terrible mental state and that her hospital report stated she was suffering from low blood pressure due to not being able to adapt to life in Saudi Arabia.
Hussein Al-Abbadi, head of the Social Protection Committee in Taif, said Sarah is finding it difficult to adapt to life in the Kingdom having lived abroad with her mother for nine years.
Al-Abbadi said the 11-year-old was admitted to King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital and then released.
He added that the Department of Health Affairs is to conduct its own social and psychological evaluation of the girl.
The girl’s father, who met with officials at the Taif governorate on Wednesday to discuss the case, told Arab News that officials were alarmed by what has been published on the issue in the media.
“My daughter is not being abused or mistreated. The source of the problem is her mother and maternal uncle,” he said.
“The special committee that investigated the case has concluded that she is not being mistreated. I call on journalists who have exaggerated the case to ascertain the truth from proper sources — either the Social Protection Committee, the police or the governorate.”
The Human Rights Commi-ssion’s Taif branch waded into the controversy earlier this week and found that the girl had no signs of abuse on her body and that her Syrian mother, who lives in Syria, is trying to regain custody by claiming she is being abused.
In a previous interview with Arab News, Al-Abbadi said the Social Protection Committee found that the girl is not being abused and that she admitted that her mother instructed her to run away and allege abuse.
The maternal uncle, however, continues to insist Sarah is being abused, claiming that she would not have run away so many times if this was not the case.
The uncle has also been demanding an independent meeting with the girl in which he and the girl’s father could ask her if she is being abused in his household or not.
He said there are people who have witnessed the abuse and that he has proof, including a report from King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital.
