Woman held for abducting two children 20 years ago

Saudi police arrested a woman suspected of having kidnapped two children more than 20 years ago, Saudi television Al Arabiya has reported.

The woman was apprehended after she had applied for obtaining identification cards for the two men, now in their twenties, based on suspicious data.

Police investigations proved the woman’s links to abductions of two children reported in 1996 and 1999 from a hospital in the eastern Saudi city of Dammam, the report quoted a police official as saying.

However, Abdul Aziz Al Hajri, a defence lawyer for the woman, now in her fifties, denied she had kidnapped the two children, confirming she had acted with good intentions.

“She found the first child 23 years ago and the second 20 years ago. She taught them reading, writing, and learning Quran and Al Hadith [the Prophet Mohammad’s sayings, PBUH],” the lawyer told Saudi television Al Ekhabriya.

By examining surveillance cameras at the hospital, differences were found in the physical features of the woman involved in the abductions and those of the woman now in custody, according to the lawyer.