Umm Abdullah, a mother of two sons and two daughters, has called upon authorities to end her suffering by providing the required identification documents for her children.

“They are currently being deprived of education and health services due to their lack of official status,” she was quoted as saying by Al-Madinah newspaper.

Umm Abdullah said that 30 years ago she was engaged to a Saudi man when her father was in jail in a Riyadh prison for his failure to pay a debt. Her marriage was conditional on her future husband’s willingness to pay the debt owed by her father in order to free him and, accordingly, the marriage contract was signed.

After 11 years of marriage, her husband passed away, at which point she began to approach the Civil Status Department in Riyadh to obtain IDs for her children; she subsequently provided all required papers and documents to complete this procedure.

During this process, she was shocked to learn that her husband did not have an ID despite the fact that the marriage was completed based on his own ID, which she still has, she said.

To remedy this issue, she has been visiting the Civil Status Department for more than 15 years, but to no avail. To this day, her two sons and two daughters are still being denied education and health services for lack of ID and official status documents, she said.