Mum abandons 10 children to marry

A Yemeni mother whose Saudi husband died four years ago abandoned her 10 children to get married again, leaving them crammed in one room offered by their uncle, the Saudi Arabic language daily Okaz reported on Tuesday.

A local human rights group said it was pushing authorities to help the children in the southern town of Sabya near the Yemeni border as they are not registered with the government social security because their mother is not Saudi.

Okaz quoted their father’s brother, Ismail Al-Hakawi, as saying he had provided the children, most of whom are aged below 10 years, with a room at his house, adding that he was trying to get them registered with the social security with the help of Jazan’s Human Rights Society.

“That’s all I can offer given my financial status…I want to help them after they suffered from the loss of their father and their mother abandoned them to marry another man…I am trying to have them registered with social security so they will pursue their education but these procedures take a long time.”

Okaz said it visited the children in their room, which has only five beds. “That was all their uncle could offer…signs of poverty was apparent on their faces.”

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