Manama: A Saudi man has cut off his own penis after his father refused to give him permission to marry, according to a newspaper report.

The victim, in his 30s, was rushed to Taif hospital where doctors attempted to reattach the severed member amid scepticism about the chances of success for the surgery, Al Watan reported.

According to reports, the father wanted his son to have a job before he would allow him to get married.

Self-mutilations are rare in the Arab world.

In June last year, a 25-year-old Egyptian man made headlines after he heated up a knife and cut off his penis when his family refused to allow him to marry a girl from a lower class family.

The young man came from a prominent family in the southern Egyptian province of Qena, one of Egypt's poorest and most conservative areas.