The mother of Kalthoum, who died five months ago after being tortured by her father and stepmother, disclosed that she would drop her personal rights against her former husband and his wife, if she is summoned by the court in the next few days. Fatima Kamaluddin, Kalthoum's mother, tried to justify her decision by saying that she knows the meaning of separating children from their mother. She said that Laila, Kalthoum's stepmother who has been sentenced to death, “is a mother too and her children need her. Executing or even imprisoning her or leaving her free will not bring my daughter back to me”. Kalthoum's mother described her former husband and his wife as devoid of any humaneness, particularly since she faced great difficulty in identifying her daughter at the Maternity Hospital morgue. She said Kalthoum was badly disfigured by unimaginable methods of torture. The girl's innocent face was swollen and had many bruises of coagulated blood. She said she was shocked by the barbarous way her daughter had been treated. Abdul Mohsin, the girl's maternal uncle, agreed with his sister's decision to relinquish her rights. Meanwhile, Saud Al-Malki, lawyer and legal consultant, stressed that neither Kalthoum's mother nor anyone else can drop their rights in the murder case, as the verdict in this case is a public right because the perpetrators have disturbed public security. Al-Malki said that the mother should not relinquish her rights for financial motives. He described Kalthoum's case as concerning the whole of society and said that her mother has no right to drop the case even if she is tempted with offers of money. Relinquishment of such a right by the heirs of the victim is possible in unintentional killing and cases of evildoing like burglary, highway robbery and other such cases, he explained. Al-Malki said that custody has a role to play in this aspect. Custody should be in the interests of the child, in this case the young girl, and the judiciary must view it from this perspective. Seven-year-old Kalthoum was subjected to violence and torture by her father and stepmother which was witnessed five months ago by the residents of Al-Khaldia, one of the districts with a considerable Burmese population. Kalthoum died as a result of torture by her stepmother and father, after he divorced Kalthoum's mother. According to the minutes of the investigations at Al-Mansour Police Station, the father tried to mislead the police officer on duty by pretending to be a neighbor who had come to get a death certificate for a family to bury their daughter, telling the police that the girl's father was outside the country and that the man's wife had requested him to get the certificate. However, the officer in charge of the case was not deceived and went to the house demanding to examine the body of the girl. He then insisted that the girl's body be taken to the Maternity and Children's Hospital in Makkah, where a medical report confirmed that death took place due to violence and maltreatment, as bruises covered most of the young girl's body. The forensic doctor's report showed that the girl had suffered a brain hemorrhage with recent bruises on the face and limbs. The case then went to court and the judiciary on Tuesday sentenced the stepmother to death and the father to 15 years in prison.
