The National Society of Human Rights has welcomed a verdict of the Jeddah District Court which sentenced a man and his wife to prison for torturing the man's 10-year-old son. The man received two years in jail and 250 lashes and his wife one year in jail and 150 lashes. The couple rejected the verdict and asked to appeal the case while the prosecution demanded a stiffer penalty. Sources explained that the child's teachers noticed that he was in poor physical condition and that he seemed to eat a lot while at the school. They filed a report stating that the boy looked undernourished, and that he was unsocial and preferred to be alone, and they recommended that he be referred to a hospital. Doctors examined him and discovered marks of burns on many parts of his body. The child then told them that he was living with his father and stepmother and that they used to burn him and make him stand on one leg for long periods of time because he would often urinate in bed. He also said that his stepmother used to lock him in a room without air-conditioning or food for a long time. After the case was sent to the police, the father and his wife admitted what they had done to the child, justifying their actions by saying that they wanted the boy to stop urinating in bed. The general prosecution report said that the father had acted without mercy and the court stressed that it is only God who tortures by fire. Dr. Hussain Nasir, the head of the National Society of Human Rights, said the society appreciated the role of the teachers in referring this case to the proper authorities and added that he believed that teachers were the first line of defense in protecting children against family violence.
