I am writing with regard to the article “Makkah region top for runaway girls, says Haia” (Dec. 22). Why do these Saudi girls run away from home? Possibly it is to avoid a forced marriage, violent homes, personal abuse, drug use of parents, no human rights, not allowed to go to school, mother being beaten, etc. The problem is, do the members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) care about the abuse of girls that leads to them running away or do they only want girls silenced, controlled, locked up, married off in childhood and slaves forever, so that leaders can pretend that family life is perfect and that laws are perfect and that the problem is the girl, not the abuse of power and corrupt law. Mariam, Online response
