Riyadh: Saudi police have arrested two women accused of assaulting a young Emirati woman in broad daylight on a public street in the Eastern city of Dammam.
Duwa Al Attar, 20, visited the city to see her daughter, of whom her Saudi ex-husband has custody.
The day of her visit coincided with her former husband's second marriage. She went to the wedding hall to see her child, but was not allowed to do so.
Instead, she claims she was beaten by the sister of her former husband and his brother's wife.
The Emirati woman had earlier secured a Saudi court order to see her four-and-a-half-year-old child for the first time in one-and-a-half years.
Dammam police transferred the assault case to the Public Prosecution and Investigation Authority.
Speaking to Gulf News, UAE Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Al Asari Saeed Al Daheri said that the embassy had received a directive from the Foreign Ministry to follow up the case.
He said that the UAE authorities were confident that the Saudi authorities would see justice done.
However, he noted that this is a family dispute and the embassy cannot interfere. "Our role is restricted to providing consultancy and to follow up the case," he said.
On her part, Duwa Al Attar, the alleged victim, said that there has been a dispute over the custody of her daughter ever since she was divorced two-and-a-half-years ago.
"My daughter has been living with her father for one-and-a-half years. I arrived in Dammam last Thursday after securing a court order to see my daughter. When I reached the house of my former husband and knocked on the door several times, nobody was there to respond.
"By chance, I found the mother and sister of my former husband at a nearby beauty parlour. They were preparing for my former husband's wedding ceremony. I went there [to the wedding hall] directly and pleaded to see my daughter.
"They refused my request. Subsequently, I was beaten up by the sister of my former husband and the wife of his brother at the wedding hall."
Duwa was taken to a hospital by Saudi Red Crescent volunteers, where she received treatment and was then discharged.
