Authorities in Riyadh are investigating claims that a military officer beat his children inside a police station. The incident was recorded by his divorced wife and the mother of his children on her mobile phone and handed in as evidence, Al-Madina newspaper said Saturday. The father came to the station to see his children in accordance with a verdict issued by the General Court which grants him visitation rights. The mother recorded the incident on her mobile phone and lodged a complaint against her former husband. In the complaint, lodged at the police station and with the National Society for Human Rights, the mother accuses the father of assaulting his own children. She included the video clip of the father beating his six-year-old son while other officers tried to stop him. His son was sitting on a chair in an office. “My kids were subjected to family violence at the hands of their father inside Dirab Police Station Sunday on 03/07/2011,” said the mother, adding that he beat their children before other officers. The father had been away for two consecutive years and had not seen his kids, she said. “Instead of being nice to them and treating them politely, he chose violence and force. He beat them mercilessly and inhumanely ignoring their cries and hysterical state,” she said. She called on the authorities to investigate why her ex-husband acted in this manner. She said a committee of concerned authorities needs to be set up to protect her children. The father must be examined to ensure that he does not constitute a danger to his children in future, she said.
