Woman resorts to Twitter to get help over ‘father’s threats’

She informed social protection units and the police. (AFP)

JEDDAH: Twenty-year-old Ahlam Al-Shammari from Hail felt she had no other choice but to take to Twitter for help in dealing with her father and her brothers who have been threatening and intimidating her after she separated from the husband.
Thousands took to Twitter to show her support and suggest solutions to her problem.
In a phone interview with a local paper, Al-Shammari said her father married her off when she was 16.
Having had problems in her marital life, she divorced her husband and took her new-born baby with her.
When she appealed to her mother to help after the divorce, she was turned away, she said.
“I then turned to my uncle and his wife in Hail, and after a week, I began receiving calls from my father who had neglected me for years,” she said.
“He asked to see me, but due to his poor previous treatment, I refused, fearful he would marry me off again. He filed a kidnap complaint against my uncle’s wife, where I had been staying, and when I learned this I went straight to the police to reject these accusations and informed them that I wanted to stay there,” she said.
“I am not comfortable because my uncle’s wife is facing problems. At the same time, direct threats to kill me if I do not go with my father have been made,” she said, adding that she immediately informed social protection units and the police, but has not yet received satisfactory help.
Furthermore, after the divorce, she was surprised to find that her file was withdrawn from the social security, and, as a result, her monthly social benefits had been stopped.
Meanwhile, her aunt’s husband, Majed Al-Obeid, confirmed that he signed a pledge not to enter the house as long as Ahlam remains in their home and is safe.
“We hope to find an end to her problem by asking those who are attacking her to sign a pledge not to harm her,” he said.
The National Human Rights Commission is looking into the case and said it will deal with the case and find a solution to the problem.