JEDDAH — Five Saudi men are asking for protection against their abusive wives, according to a report in local Arabic daily Al-Watan. The men have sought the Social Affairs Department in Makkah to help protect them against the violence their wives inflict, according to the unit's director Saleh Sarhan. “Violence against the husbands took various forms including prevention from sexual life, detention inside the house and beating with solid tools,” Sarhan said. Sarhan said the unit made the wives sign a written pledge to stop abusing their husbands. Meanwhile, Abdullah Al-Tawi, director of Social Affairs in Makkah, said yesterday in a statement that the protection units in the province last year received 345 abuse cases including physical violence, psychological torture, sexual harassment, murder threats, attempts to commit suicide, attempts to escape from home, and prohibition of mothers from seeing their children, among others. He recalled that the department had of late accommodated 13 mothers with their children who were victims of violence pending closure of court proceedings. “The department has recently received 119 cases of physical violence from men and women in addition to 11 cases of sexual harassment. “We have cases of women and children who were deprived of their rights to education, health services and identity papers,” Al-Tawi said. — SG
