JEDDAH, Jul 4 (Arab News): A Saudi mother with five daughters and three sons have not been able to find place to stay except the mountains near Al-Fayha land plot close to the Makkah entrance from Jeddah.

She was escaping from her own brother who threatened to kill her and her children.

Human Rights Commission member Muhammad Al-Suhaili told Arab News that while on his way to his home in Makkah from a meeting of the commission in Jeddah after Maghreb prayer, he spotted the woman and her children in an open and deserted area near a mountain close to the entrance of Makkah.

Al-Suhaili , who is a staff member of Umm Al-Qura University and the imam of Princess Sheikha Mosque, said he went to them and asked the woman why she was in this deserted place that is unsafe for women.

He said the woman told him that the general court in Jeddah divorced her from her husband, who is the father of her eight children, after the court received sufficient evidence of his constant abuse. She said after the divorce, she stayed in a shelter home in Jeddah but after some time moved out to stay with her mother.

“My own brother who was staying in the same house was as bad to us as my husband,” she reportedly told Al-Suhaili.  “He threatened to kill me and my children if we did not move out of the house. So, I have nowhere to go except this deserted mountainous area.”

Al-Suhaili said he took them in his car to Makkah and began looking for a home for them. He said one of her mother’s friends accepted to host them temporarily until a home is found for them.

“I have not yet approached any of the concerned government departments but I addressed a number of philanthropists to help this poor family,” he said.

He recalled that about six months back the commission was able to secure a home for a Saudi mother with a number of children through the help of philanthropist Muhammad Ahmad Jamal.