Nareeman holding her baby Dareen.

Okaz

Manama: A Syrian mother in Saudi Arabia who last week pleaded for the rescue of her daughter from her violent ex-husband was reunited with her three-month-old baby Dareen on Saturday.

The first thing Nareeman did was to check her daughter’s body to ensure that there were no marks of abuse.

It was a tearful reunion as staff members of the Ministry of Labour and Social Development compassionately looked on.

The mother said she was overwhelmed with the sympathy messages she received after she went public on a social media asking for assistance to save her daughter from her 29-year-old Saudi ex-husband.

The couple got married four years ago under an agreement that Nareeman would get 100,000 Saudi riyals if she was divorced.

After the birth of their daughter three months ago, Nareeman learnt that her husband never authenticated the marriage contract, which meant she had no legal rights. As she got divorce from her husband, he kept the daughter with him and later sent her videos showing him slapping and torturing the baby. Nareeman uploaded the videos on social media pleading with authorities to rescue her baby.

Government authorities rescued Dareen from the home of her paternal grandfather in Makkah and placed her in a protective home for children ahead of reuniting her with her mother.

The father has been arrested.