The National Society for Human Rights on Monday rescued two sisters from the clutches of their half-brother who had imprisoned them in a small room of indescribable filth for a decade in their family house in Al-Rayan village in the Jizan region. The two sisters, 22 and 20, were completely shut away from the outside world, existing in almost complete darkness, playing only with mice, and communicating in their own language. The only access available to them was a small toilet adjoining their room and a little hole to get the food. The two girls have now been taken to the Mental Health Hospital in Jizan to receive intensive care and treatment from the ordeal. The ordeal was sparked by their parents' divorce in 1999, after which their half-brother won their custody because of the inability of their aged and paralyzed father to take care of them. The mother was said to have gone on with her life right after the divorce, leaving her two children behind. Struggling to explain how such a horror story could have gone unnoticed, a National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) team in coordination with authorities in Jizan intervened to release them Monday after a tip-off from a citizen. Dr. Ahmed Yahya Bahkali, NSHR's regional supervisor, said their reports confirmed the poor physical and mental condition of the two girls. They may never recover from the ordeal, he said. “They need a long time to just slowly come out of the physical and psychological trauma,” he said. Dr. Ibrahim Al-Areeshi, Director of the Mental Health Hospital in Jizan and a psychiatrist, said that the girls have been brought to his hospital for treatment. They were also examined by a psychologist as per a request from the NSHR. Dr. Al-Areeshi said the internal medicine consultant in the hospital who also examined the two girls found that they were anemic.
