Mick Hartley

In Saudi Arabia it's always the father who gets custody:

JEDDAH: Three sisters who have repeatedly fled their father’s home after 10 years of physical and psychological abuse and sexual molestation reached a dead end.

The girls’ last escape was five months ago. Mona, Nadin and Lina took refuge in the home of their mother, who had been divorced from their father nine years ago. According to a court verdict issued in 1999, the mother can only see the girls on Fridays from the afternoon until early evening. She tried to get custody of her daughters, but all her attempts were unsuccessful. She was hesitant to speak to the press until she realized it was her final recourse. […]

The girls, whose ages are 21, 16 and 15, said that after the divorce their father told them their mother abandoned them so she could pursue her career and that she did not want anything to do with them. But only after they grew up, the girls saw their father and stepmother for who they were.

“My stepmother touches my breasts and my sensitive areas. Her words are obscene. I got my menstruation for the first time in the midst of a battering session by my father,” said the oldest sister Mona.

In August 2007, Lina, the youngest daughter, ran away from her father’s home heading to her mother. Arab News has a copy of a medical report that diagnosed the state she was in as an acute stress reaction.

Lina sat absorbed in her thoughts while her mother and Mona described the incident.

“She was suicidal and in a horrific psychological state,” said the mother. “When I first opened the door and saw her standing there, I thought their house had burned down and she was the only survivor.”

Mona and Nadin were still at their father’s home after the youngest ran away.

“My dad threatened us. He told us that if he killed us, no one could take legal action against him because he is our father,” said Mona.

Two months ago, the mother filed another complaint in an attempt to take custody of her daughters or at least to regularise their visits. They met with Judge Abdul Rahman Al-Hujailan:

He said to me that a woman is incapable of preserving herself, therefore, she’s incapable of preserving her daughters. He also said that according to the Hanbali School, I’m not allowed to see my daughters since I’m divorced.

Hence the mother's desperate last resort – tell her story to the press:

Arab News attempted a number of times to contact Mona, Nadin and Lina’s father, but he did not respond. The girls are still with their mother, frightened that he might show up to take them back with him. Nothing much was done to annul the verdict or to help the girls. The mother went to the National Society for Human Rights office in Jeddah.

They issued a letter asking the Jeddah Governorate to annul the verdict. Yet again nothing has happened so far.

“Things are uncertain,” said the mother in tears. “We’re scared to even answer the phone at home. Isn’t there anyone to help us?”

And the abusive father's job? Yes, he's an imam, and works for the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice – the religious police.