Ali, 8, lives with his non-Saudi mother who is divorced from his father.

An abusive Saudi father has been arrested by police here after he poured liquid bleach on his 8-year-old son’s scalp, scalding it, the online newspaper Sabq.org reported.

Ali, 8, lives with his non-Saudi mother who is divorced from his father. He told police officers that he and his younger brother were visiting their father, 49, who lives in Al-Sabya governorate.

When the father, who was believed to be under the influence of alcohol, asked the boys to steal, Ali declined to do so, sending him into a violent rage in which he ruthlessly assaulted the boy.

“My father was inebriated. He asked me and my brother to steal. When I told him mom taught us it is impermissible in Islam to steal, he blindfolded me, taped my mouth and took off my clothes. He made me stand under the shower while he beat me with a broom on the head. He kept saying, ‘Let Allah save you from me now if He says stealing is impermissible’,” Ali told the officers.

The father then brought a pair of scissors and cut off his son’s hair and then used a dagger to cut the boy’s head in several locations. After that, he poured two types of chemical bleaches on the boy’s head.

“When he did it, I lost consciousness and fell to the floor of the bathroom,” Ali said.

Instead of taking the boy to hospital, the father returned the boys to their mother who was shocked to see Ali’s condition. She rushed him to a hospital where doctors admitted him to the emergency room.

Speaking to Sabq, the mother said she had seven children with her divorced husband who forced his children to steal and refused to register them under his ID.

“He kept forcing my children to steal and beg and tortured anyone who didn’t. My sons are not registered under their father’s ID and they haven’t even been circumcised yet because their father refuses to do it,” the mother said.

A representative from the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR)’s Jazan branch visited Ali and promised that the father’s crime would not go unpunished.

“We’re waiting for the medical report and we will transfer him to the best Saudi hospital. We’ll also contact the concerned authorities to take care of the family and consider their poor living conditions,” the representative said.

Jazan Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdulrahman Al-Zahrani said the Jazan General Hospital reported the crime on Thursday and the father was arrested immediately. Meanwhile, photos of a badly injured Ali went viral on social media websites, causing public outrage.

 
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