Manama: Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested the father who was seen on a video clip slapping his infant daughter.
The 29-year-old Saudi national was apprehended after his divorced wife, Nareeman, posted the clip on a media platform, pleading for assisting to rescue their daughter Dareen from the torture inflicted by her father.
The wife, 23, told Saudi daily Okaz that she was a Syrian citizen and that she married her Saudi husband four years earlier under an agreement that he would give her 100,000 Saudi Riyals in case they divorced.
"The marriage was approved by both our families and last four years," Nareeman said. "We had our baby daughter three months ago. I discovered that he never authenticated our marriage contract, which meant that I had no rights. As I insisted, he divorced me and kept our daughter in his custody after the father threatened her. He started torturing her and sent me clips to put extra emotional pressure on me."
Nareeman said that she wanted protection for her baby and for herself as well as her rights from the marriage.
An official from the labour and social development ministry said that they were able to take Dareen from the home of her paternal grandfather in Makkah and transferred her to the home for the protection of children ahead of reuniting her with her mother.
The official said that Dareen was feeling fine and that she would be handed back to her mother.
Saudis were shocked on Wednesday when a desperate mother posted a short clip of a baby girl being slapped and violently shaken by a man she said was her husband.
The mother in a passionate plea called for assistance to rescue her daughter from the torture being inflicted by the father.
“I urge every official and every lawyer to protect my daughter from torture,” the mother tweeted.
The video went viral and the authorities responded by asking the mother to contact them in order to help end the baby's ordeal.
