The uncle of five young women has supported their claim that they were physically and psychologically abused by their father, according to their lawyer. The uncle, named as Faisal, is the brother of the man accused of the abuse. The five women, Asma, Zuhoor, Athir, Ayman, and Razan have reportedly claimed that the abuse included physical assault and a refusal to provide them with food and water during the time they stayed with their father. Lawyer Ibrahim Al-Sunaidi, who is representing the five women in their bid to have their father stripped of his guardianship over them, confirmed that he has testimony from the uncle about the abuse. The testimony of the uncle and medical reports issued by Social Affairs and government hospitals have supported their claims that they were tortured during the period they lived with their father three years ago. Faisal claims that his brother, who is an employee at Asir's official religious establishment Endowment Directorate, only wants guardianship for “purely financial goals and is not fit to be their legal guardian”. “Making the girls happy, sacrificing for them or even showing a small bit of father's love is not one of his characteristics,” the uncle said. Al-Sunaidi said that it was in the women's interest to stay with their mother or grandmother “for the sake of their future education” as the father is married to a second wife, who is the age of his eldest daughter. “Their mother has not remarried and is fit to take care of them,” he said. Abdullatif, the mother's brother, said that their family has taken care of his nieces for 15 years. “It started even before the divorce. My sister and her daughters came to us to escape from their father's hell,” he said. They often used to stay for up to a month at their house to escape the abuse, he said. The five young women are refusing to obey an order from the Civil Status Department in the Eastern Province to return to the house of their father. The women, all university students, have lodged a complaint with the Administrative Court in Dammam to suspend the order issued by the Civil Status Department. They have also lodged a complaint of abuse against their father in the Asir court. The case is still pending. They said their ordeal started five years ago when their mother filed a ‘Khula' divorce from their father. This divorce is where the woman pays the man compensation for her freedom. The father accepted the divorce on condition that she would relinquish custody of their daughters and move from Asir to the Eastern Province. They claimed that the period they lived with him was one of the most miserable times of their life. They then escaped and moved to live with their mother in the Eastern Province. To ensure that they would never be forced to live with him again, they asked the court to grant their grandmother custody over them. They also asked for their guardianship to be transferred from their father to a judge in case they want to get married. Asma, 22, who is studying at a health college in the Eastern Province, claimed that she and her sisters suffer from psychiatric problems because of the alleged beatings. They claimed that their father is “schizophrenic to some degree.” They said that he “behaves as an angel” in public but when they would return home, he would “torture” them and beat them until they “lose consciousness.” Asma claimed that her father had also refused to allow her sisters to get married because of his greed for their incomes. The father, the sister said, would only allow them to get married if they gave up their financial rights. Asma said she and her sisters were terrified when the Civil Status Department in the Eastern Province threatened that it would suspend their civil records and send women jailers to their colleges to pull them out of their classes in front of their classmates if they continued to refuse to live with their father. She said these threats had affected them academically and psychologically. They have lodged a complaint with the Administrative Court in Dammam to suspend the order issued by the Civil Status Department in Asir. They have produced medical reports supporting their claims that they were abused. The reports stated that this was caused by their father's alleged abuse and alleged repeated sexual harassment by their half brother who was alcoholic. Their father has denied the allegations and claimed his ex-wife's brothers are responsible for the abuse. He claimed that his daughters remained with him for two years during which they obtained excellent grades in the final high school examinations. He also claimed that he had certificates showing that they were mentally stable. He accused his ex-wife of forging medical reports showing that they had been physically abused.
