RIYADH: A man has been arrested for shackling and beating his daughter, filming the offence and posting a video clip of it on social media.
The Burmese man allegedly confessed that he assaulted his 11-year-old daughter after tying her with ropes and tortured her with a whip. According to local media, he blamed the act on his sister who ran away from the house after she cut his daughter’s hair without his permission. He added he forced her wife to film the clip to be sent to his sister to return home.
The Saudi Arabia public prosecution said the child protection law criminalises parents who do not provide their children with proper family supervision and care.
“It is negligence and harm to the children if they are left without a guardian’s supervision or family care, child exploitation in commercial marketing, exposing the child, directly or indirectly, to information materials that violate morals, criminal material or inappropriate for his age, or that endanger his belief, thought, or behaviour,” the prosecution said.
Article 4 of the Saudi child protection law criminalises parents who do not provide children with proper education. Saudi parents are responsible by law to provide schooling and to create appropriate studying conditions for their children.
Parents are also responsible to help them learn and to protect them. Any parent who stops their child from getting an education can be charged with abuse and neglect under the child protection system.
The child protection law was issued in 2014 to protect children’s rights in Saudi Arabia. The law states that until the age of 18, a person is considered a child who needs to be protected from all kinds of harm by family members, school, care homes and public places.
Parents in Saudi Arabia must get their children formal identification papers, education, vaccinations and provide a safe home. If any of these basic rights are not met, a parent can be charged with neglect.
