MAKKAH: The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) is investigating claims from the father of a 14-year-old sentenced to four year's prison and 400 lashes of the whip for the rape of a child that the case was “concocted to extort money”. The man, a foreigner, said the case began a month prior to reaching court when the claimant accused the boy of raping the five-year-old and offered to accept money in exchange for dropping the charges. When the offer was refused, the claimant approached the Hai'a who detained the 14-year-old and handed him over to the relevant authorities. “When the case reached the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution in Makkah the plaintiff dropped the charges, scared that the truth might come out, but they continued with their investigations,” the father said. He said the BIP then asked him to sign documents without knowing their content as he does not read Arabic. “It turned out the documents were something else, and after I signed them they took my son to the prison for young offenders, and then the case went to court,” he said. “The attorney general requested that the death penalty be dropped due to lack of evidence.”