Locally...

Today sadness, or insanity. Both? Definitely both!

Sometime ago a couple was forcibly divorced. Meddling half-brothers decided that their sister married the wrong man. A judge nullified the marriage, which effectively divorced her from her husband. She has been estranged from him ever since. The woman, Fatima, has been living at an orphanage for the past two years, and she refuses to leave to go home to the "half-brothers" who caused this mess. Who can blame her? Her family [that would be the meddling half-brothers] "claimed that the husband had lied and misled them about his tribal background." So? Fatima had had the permission of her father to marry the man, Mansour Al-Timani, who denies that he lied or misled anyone. There are two children which were born to this marriage. A three-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. The little girl is in the custody of her father, Mansour, and the little boy is at the orphanage with his mother, Fatima. An unnamed source at the Human Rights Commission "told Arab News that the case is still pending and there has been no new developments. The reasons as to why Fatima is still awaiting a decision even though her case started three years ago are unclear to her." They are unclear to everyone. Fatima sits in limbo, unable to even take her child to the hospital when he is sick. Why? "His name is not included in the family ID card she has. Her husband's ID has also expired and he is unable to renew it because of their pending case." Apparently, "there are many angles to Fatima's case that need to be tackled." How long must the two consenting ADULTS, who had the permission of Fatima's father to marry, remain separated from each other and their children before the "angles" get tackled??? Fatima's father gave her permission to marry Mansour. They want to be married. Yet, they can't be, because of Fatima's half-brothers. Go ahead. Shake your head in total bewilderment. I don't get it, either. There is another case with the same type of "angles" that is now pending. "A couple, who had been married for a year and a half and had a four-month-old daughter, were divorced in absentia by a judge in Qatif. The wife's father filed the case against his son-in-law... on the basis of tribal incompatibility." [Didn't you, initially, agree to the marriage and allow your daughter to marry the man? Now, you can change your mind?!?] A judge has "ordered separation of the wife... from her husband." Seriously. You can't make this stuff up!

A newborn baby girl has been abandoned and left at the hospital where she was born. The 38-year-old mother "escaped" from the hospital during visiting hours. "The mother, whose identity has not been disclosed, had just given birth to her seventh child. ...she might be either mentally unwell or suffering from family problems." Hmmm. Seven children and maybe "suffering from family problems." How about maybe she is just sick and tired of being a baby machine? Ya' think??? Nah. Couldn't possibly be...

Yesterday I posted on the little seven-year-old girl who died after being tortured by her wicked step-mother and her father. The mother of Kulthoum [the little girl], "who was allegedly [emphasis, mine] beaten and tortured" said that she "had difficulty recognizing her own daughter when visiting her for the last time at the morgue." I cannot imagine. "The abuse she suffered had totally distorted the features of her face." Unbelievable. Who does this to a child? Anywhere! Child abuse knows no boundaries. It goes on everywhere, world-wide. It is reported today that Fatima, the child's real mother, was married to the little girl's father for ten years and divorced him eight months ago when he married another woman, Layla. Fatima "has decided not to pursue a personal case against her ex-husband. 'His utter lack of humanity makes him not worth my time and effort... He has no mercy or compassion in his heart.'" Her decision is commendable. She is right. There is more to the story. "Fatima had two children by her ex-husband, and authorities are now investigating his and his wife's connection with the premature death of the first, Uhoud, who was two years old at the time of her passing six months ago." TWO CHILDREN died at the hands of these monsters?!? The father - and I use that label in the loosest possible sense of the word - refused to let the two little girls live with their mother. Shortly after the divorce, Fatima received a telephone call from her ex-husband informing her that "Uhoud had died and been buried." Oh my gosh. "Then six months later he told me Kulthoum had died. When I asked him how she'd died, he said that she had developed a high temperature and then passed away." The internal anguish and suffering that Fatima has to be experiencing is beyond anything I can fathom. Fatima says, "When I was told she had been beaten and tortured, I began to remember the last time I'd see Kulthoum three months ago. She said she was in pain all over her body but she was too scared to tell me why. She also had a broken wrist." Any mother can only imagine the red flags that Fatima must have been seeing... The warning signs were all there and Fatima cannot be held to be at fault for any wrongdoing. Her hands were certainly tied. Women who divorce their husbands in this part of the world almost always lose their children as custody is bestowed upon the father. Kulthoum's father [father?!?] "claims to have had no knowledge of his wife beating and torturing his daughter while he was away at work." You lying sack of shit. You are a pathetic excuse for a father and a much less excuse of a man. You didn't see that your little girl was suffering at the hands of your current wife? Are you blind?!? His wife, Layla, however, "has reportedly admitted to beating the child but that she did not expect her actions to lead to the girl's death." Exactly what did you think, Layla? Do tell. We're all waiting to hear what you thought your actions were doing. Fatima, we will all be thinking of you and hoping that you will find strength to get through this horrific nightmare into which you are now entranced.

Remember a year or so ago when a two-and-a-half-year-old child was decapitated at a grocery store in Jeddah? It's in the archives, here, somewhere. "The parents... have waived their right to execute the child's uncle who committed the crime." Huh? You're kidding, right? Nope. They're taking "blood money," instead. Come on! What is wrong with parents in this world?!? A man - who you are related to - DECAPITATES your child in the produce section of a supermarket IN FRONT OF OTHER SHOPPERS and you don't want to see him get the death penalty? I just don't get it. Never will.