ABHA — A 35-year-old woman who was a resident at Abha Social Protection Center ran away last Monday because she was about to be committed to a mental hospital for the third time. The woman was inquiring about her case at the Emir's office in Abha when she made the decision to run away. When she learned that the authorities would refer her to the mental health hospital, she decided to run away while the female guards accompanying her were distracted. The woman told Al-Hayat she had been admitted twice to the mental health hospital and the doctors found her to be mentally sound and without any psychological disorders. She added that she was not ready to be admitted for a third time to the same hospital, which is why she escaped. “Why should I be committed to a hospital when I'm mentally sound and I don't have any problem?” The woman said she wanted to lead an honorable and normal life and wanted to see her son, who was taken away by her ex-husband after they divorced. She also wanted to go back to her job. She pointed out that her misery began when her father started to conspire against her and tried to get her admitted to a mental health hospital with the help of the social protection center's director. She ran away the first time when her father abused her physically and she escaped from the center the second time when she was referred to the mental health hospital. She said she was appointed as a teacher in 2004 but her father's violence caused her to lose the job. She got a job at Princess Nora University but lost it again because of her father, she said. She also got a job at King Khalid University but the social protection center prevented her from leaving the center's premises. Sheikha Al-Huzam, director of the women's social supervision office in Asir, said the woman's father, one of her brothers and her ex-husband brought three lawsuits against her. Al-Huzam told Al-Hayat the social protection center does not prevent inmates from attending court sessions and hearings in connection with cases raised against them. Ayedh Al-Saeed, spokesman for the Asir Emir's office, said the runaway woman does not have any cases hanging over her head except one registered against her when she ran away last week. He noted that the center's management filed a complaint with the Emir's office, saying the woman mistreated and abused the center's staff and even cursed at them several times. “After this complaint, we wanted to make sure the woman didn't have any psychological disorders. That's why we referred her to the mental health hospital.” The woman managed to sneak out unnoticed from the building when she learned about the referral. Police are still searching for her. Al-Saeed said the woman had escaped before and gone to Riyadh where she stayed for a month. Then she came back and refused to let police call her father to come and pick her up at the station. She said she preferred to stay in prison than go to her father's home. Her case was referred to an Abha court and the judge ordered that a committee be formed to study the case. “We have received similar complaints from inmates of the social protection center. When we went there, we found the center did not have enough services,” said a court official.
