JEDDAH: A young woman has accused the Social Affairs Ministry of ignoring her pleas for protection from her abusive father.
The 20-year-old woman was quoted as saying by a local publication on Thursday that when she called the ministry’s 1919 emergency number, an official who answered allegedly said that the Protection Center in Makkah would contact her during the week, and that if anything happens to her she should call the police.
She claimed that the ministry never followed up on the matter with her, and that this was not the first time she had called the center in Makkah about her father’s violent behavior. “My mother filed a complaint two years ago and has up to now not received a response,” she said.
Her mother told the publication that she was divorced from the young woman’s father. They had separated when the woman and her brother were young. The father had physically and verbally abused both children, the mother claimed.
The mother said that when the young woman was in grade four, the father had prevented her from continuing her studies. This was to take revenge on her for divorcing him, the mother claimed. The father had also accused her and their daughter of practicing witchcraft, the mother claimed.
The mother said her daughter had been beaten several times and had eventually filed a complaint with the police, but officers would not take up her case until she filed the complaint in person.
The mother claimed that her ex-husband had sent one of his sons from another wife to her house to force the young woman to withdraw her complaint. The son had fired shots into the air to intimidate her, while the father had shouted outside calling for her to come out of the house. “This is when she called the police and filed a complaint with the protection center,” said the mother.
A source at the protection center in Makkah confirmed a complaint was filed on its support line last Wednesday, but that officials had later interviewed the abused woman. “They sent a letter to King Faisal Hospital about the details of the beating, and also tried to contact the father but he refused to answer. If he continues to do so he will be brought in by the police,” said the source.
Spokesman for Makkah’s health department Abdul Wahab Shalabi said medical personnel at King Faisal Hospital had examined the woman and sent a report to the social protection center.
The 20-year-old woman was quoted as saying by a local publication on Thursday that when she called the ministry’s 1919 emergency number, an official who answered allegedly said that the Protection Center in Makkah would contact her during the week, and that if anything happens to her she should call the police.
She claimed that the ministry never followed up on the matter with her, and that this was not the first time she had called the center in Makkah about her father’s violent behavior. “My mother filed a complaint two years ago and has up to now not received a response,” she said.
Her mother told the publication that she was divorced from the young woman’s father. They had separated when the woman and her brother were young. The father had physically and verbally abused both children, the mother claimed.
The mother said that when the young woman was in grade four, the father had prevented her from continuing her studies. This was to take revenge on her for divorcing him, the mother claimed. The father had also accused her and their daughter of practicing witchcraft, the mother claimed.
The mother said her daughter had been beaten several times and had eventually filed a complaint with the police, but officers would not take up her case until she filed the complaint in person.
The mother claimed that her ex-husband had sent one of his sons from another wife to her house to force the young woman to withdraw her complaint. The son had fired shots into the air to intimidate her, while the father had shouted outside calling for her to come out of the house. “This is when she called the police and filed a complaint with the protection center,” said the mother.
A source at the protection center in Makkah confirmed a complaint was filed on its support line last Wednesday, but that officials had later interviewed the abused woman. “They sent a letter to King Faisal Hospital about the details of the beating, and also tried to contact the father but he refused to answer. If he continues to do so he will be brought in by the police,” said the source.
Spokesman for Makkah’s health department Abdul Wahab Shalabi said medical personnel at King Faisal Hospital had examined the woman and sent a report to the social protection center.
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