Custodial dad locks kids in house to starve while he goes out of town (Darawan, Yemen)

Since a lot of fathers rights groups advocate for mandatory father custody--some openly, some not so openly--it's always interesting to see what happens in societies where mothers have few if any custodial rights. In this case from Yemen, the custodial dad locked his 3 kids in the house, in separate rooms no less, for 8 days with while he went out of town. These children were only 5, 3, and 7 years of age. Now the children are with an aunt. Note that the reporter doesn't even mention the non-custodial mother who lost contact with these children--that's how inconsequential a mother is considered after a divorce.

http://www.yobserver.com/culture-and-society/10017222.html

Locked-in and left to starve by their own father – the story of 3 children recently freed by SEYAJ
Posted in: Culture & Society
Written By: Observer Staff
Article Date: Sep 7, 2009 - 1:05:27 PM

A smile has returned to the cheeks of Salh and his two sisters Afnan and Kheuam after enduring 8 days of detention in their own home in Darawan, imprisoned by their father. SEYAJ, an organization for child protection, reported that the father, Abdu Abdullah al-Dhobhany had locked his three children in and traveled to Taiz. SEYAJ and local security intervened to release the three children.

YemenNews were initially informed by Mr. Anees al-Jahlanee, a local security officer, of the situation. Their editor, Hamad Dabwan, then accompanied the chairman of SAYEJ, Ahmed Al-Karshee to the house where the children had been kept captive.

Salih, Afnan, and Kheuam – 5, 3 and 7 years-old respectively – are the children of a husband divorced from his wife and a father lacking the basic human instincts of care and compassion. An elderly neighbor by the name of Fatima related the story of their confinement to YemenNews: her children had gone to play with the Al-Dhobhany's children at their home outside the village. Upon arrival however, they found their three playmates locked in separate rooms, screaming for help, food and release. Fatima's children ran back to her begging her to give food to the three helpless prisoners who had already been locked in the house for a couple of days.

Fatima herself however, is not entirely blameless in this fiasco. Having found out about the confined children and despite providing them with a few essentials in terms of food passed through tiny windows, she refused to allow carpenters from a local shop to break the locks. The reason behind this is that al-Dhobhany's house was actually her property which he rented from her.

Fatima explained to the YemenNews, “I do not know exactly how long these children remained locked in their father's house after this, all I know is that when my children came and told me of their misfortune, I at once agreed to provide them with some food."

But Fatima's husband, around 60 years of age, is disgusted with the behavior of al-Dhobhany and claims that he no longer wants him residing in his property.

However, before the authorities could catch al-Dhobhany red-handed or pre-empt his return from Taiz, he had rushed back home and restored everything to an apparently normal state. Therefore by the time that the head of SEYAJ, the editor of YemenNews, and the deputy director of Darawan security arrived, nothing suggested the previous acts of cruelty that had happened there. The only lingering suspicion was to be found with the equally-lingering smell of urine and waste which had intensified over the last 8 days.

Given a chance to explain himself and his appalling lack of compassion for his own children, al-Dhobhany claims that he had received an urgent call from his village in Taiz saying his mother was very sick in hospital and that he should visit her. He told YemenNews that he left his children some biscuits, fruits and drinks. As for locking all the house doors, al-Dhobhany explains that one day he had left his children without doing so, only to return and find his daughter Khuame injured from an accident in the street outside in which she had broken both her legs. Locking the doors was therefore merely a precaution against worse evils he said.

When pressed for the logic behind locking his children in separate rooms, al-Dhobhany alleges that his son used to beat his sisters, so he thought it best to isolate him from them.

Director of the police station in Darawan, Ali Hameed al-Hube, confirmed that all complaints and information received by his police force are shared with human rights organizations in the area and all concerned sheiks.

He added that a complaint had initially been received after six days of the children's confinement, from a source who refused to give his name but claimed that al-Dhobhany was traveling with his new wife in Taiz.

The director of security in the area, Mofathal Al-Masree, was informed, and authorities were dispatched to break the locks and free the children. Despite a veil of normalcy shrouding the house upon their arrival, al-Dhobhany was taken in for questioning, while his three children have since been staying at their aunt's.

The SEYAJ organization for child protection has spoken out against this appalling lack of respect for children, calling al-Dhobhany's actions a crime against the rights of childhood. Ahmed al-Kershee, the president of SEYAJ, issued a statement to YemenNews in which he demanded that al-Dhobhany be awarded the maximum sentence and that his punishment reflect that to which he subjected his children.