A father has been accused of physically abusing his 16-year-old daughter, leaving bruises and burn marks on her body. The accusations have been made by the girl's mother S.A., who is divorced from the father. The daughter, Sarah, was the subject of a custody battle between her parents when she was only a few months old. Her father eventually won custody. But the mother now claims, in a new lawsuit, that Sarah has been abused by her father and stepmother. She wants complete custody. Umm Sarah said that when she recently visited her daughter, she noticed that she was pale and withdrawn. When she saw bruises and burns on her daughter's body Umm Sarah reported the matter to the police. She said her daughter is currently being treated by a plastic surgeon. She has since instituted plans to get complete custody of her daughter. “I went to her school in Makkah and asked the principal to transfer her file to Jeddah where I live but my request was denied. Then the Emir of Makkah, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, ordered her to be transferred following a petition I filed at his office. Now I want legal custody,” Umm Sarah said. She accused her ex-husband of wanting to hurt her through her daughter. The father, meanwhile, turned to the Civil Rights Department to get his daughter back. The department approached Umm Sarah but she refused to allow her daughter to return. “She has endured all kinds of daily insults from her father and step-mother including tiring housework. She cannot endure this [abuse] of her body,” Umm Sarah said. Umm Sarah is married and has five other children.
