JEDDAH — A 16–year-old girl at a Jeddah social services home has gone on a hunger strike until authorities find a permanent solution to her problem, reported a local Arabic daily. The girl said her suffering started from the day she sought the help of the Ministry of Social Affairs to protect her from her brothers' beatings. She said the town where she was born had no social services, so she was shifted from place to place until she was referred to the shelter in Jeddah where she has been for over a year. She said since then officials have not come up with a solution to allow her to live with her mother in Jeddah, because her stepfather refuses to receive her. Her father had died when she was a child and her brothers used to give her hard time and beat her up for no reason. She requested to see Abdullah Al-Tawi, director of Makkah Province Social Affairs, to help her but her request was turned down. She said this made her feel like a prisoner deprived of the simplest rights, and she also alleged that the home's staff has been very abusive to her. She said she sees marriage as a solution to her problem but her brothers stubbornly refuse to marry her to a man who proposed to her because the man does not belong to the family's tribe. Thus she decided to start a hunger strike until her demands are addressed. Al-Tawi said he had personally been following her case. He said that if any female inmate wants to see him, she must be accompanied by a social worker. Mardi Al-Maliki, a social worker at Makkah Social Affairs, said he contacted her brother to allow her to marry the man who had proposed to her, but the brother was adamant that the marriage should be within the tribe. He also tried to reunite her with her mother, but her husband would not allow it. He said he asked the Civil Service department to send the girl's birth certificate to help her claim a monthly stipend and allow her to become financially independent. Saleh Al-Ghamdi, Director of Social Protection in Makkah Province, said a team of social workers met with the girl. He said one of her brothers expressed a willingness to look after her but only after a few months because he is outside the Kingdom.
