Brutal raid by Saudi police on a home for young orphans

Published on: 09/07/2022 – 17:37 On August 30, a series of videos posted on Twitter shocked the Saudi web: we see men dressed in uniform and in civilian clothes pushing and hitting young women with sticks, belts and stun guns. The images, which were filmed in a home for young orphan women, followed an internal investigation within the police, which is still ongoing. But beyond the facts of police violence, the case reveals a long-term ordeal for these young women considered wards of the Saudi state. The very violent scene was filmed by a young woman resident of the home for young orphans in Khamis Mushait, a city in southern Saudi Arabia. By posting it for the first time from an “anonymous” Twitter account, preferring to protect her identity, she explains that her gesture “comes after numerous attacks passed over in silence” that the girls of the home have suffered before. Since their publication on the evening of August 30, the two videos have accumulated more than 3 million views on Twitter and sparked a vast wave of outrage, anger and support for the victims under the hashtag “The Orphans of Khamis Mushait” in Arabic # ايتام_خميس_مشيط. That day, the young female residents of the hostel ransacked the headmistress’s office to demand better living conditions and denounced several regular violations of their rights as wards of the kingdom. Later in the evening, a dozen police officers, firefighters and men in civilian clothes burst into the institution and beat several young women from this home. The images are difficult to watch. For a few minutes, we see several men in uniform and in civilian clothes bursting into the courtyard of the home, and pursuing young women wearing black abayas or niqabs. At 1’50” in the first extract, six men in civilian clothes, face covered by their keffiyeh, grab a young girl whom they suspect of having filmed the assault on her phone, tackle her to the ground and handcuff her feet , as she struggles. While one of them holds the handcuffed victim by the hair, another then orders the rest of the women not to film, at the risk of suffering the same fate as their comrade. #ايتام_خميس_مشيط من هذا المنبر انشر المقطع ، انا واحده من بنات الدار وانا من قمت بتحرير واختصار المقاطع اللذي سينزل الان ، فأما اليتيم فلا تقهر ، حسبي الله لكل من اعتدى علينا وكل من يضلل الحقيقه الله يورينا عجائب قدرتة في كل من تسبب بهاذا وكل ما ساند . pic.twitter.com/PlDNW1EkKy— | ♊︎ | (@sa_nicolas) August 30, 2022 First part of the scene, posted by a victim of Assir’s violent police raid on the home for orphans in Khamis Mushait. The second video, published by the same user a few minutes later, resumes immediately at the end of the first: we see a policeman unsheathing his belt to hit a woman who came to rescue another young girl who was beaten and tackled to the ground by two men in civilian, who handcuff the latter to her feet. The young girl, her head now uncovered, begs her executioners to let her go, promising not to film with her phone anymore. During the rest of the clip, several other residents are beaten up and violently thrown to the ground. الجزي الثاني ، ارجو لكل من يخاف الله ان ينشر المقطع باقصى حد كان 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 https://t.co/gpmhwkzabh pic.twitter.com/o8cb6ezw9v – | ♊︎ | (@sa_nicolas) August 30, 2022 Second part of the scene, posted by a victim of the violent Assir police raid on the home for orphans in Khamis Mushait. The same user indicates that the attackers did not spare the employees of the home who tried to help the young women. This was confirmed by the images relayed. #ايتام_خميس_مشيط تم تهديدنا بالتهجم مره اخرى من مدير الشؤون الاجتماعيه ( هادي الشهراني ) في حال لم يتم حذف ونشر المقاطع من مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي ، هذه بعض الصور الاعتدائات : pic.twitter.com/Qpu99kDSAz— | ♊︎ | (@sa_nicolas) August 30, 2022 Bruising caused by the beating of the residents of the home and the employees of the crèche. Despite numerous attempts, the staff of Les Observateurs was unable to establish direct contact with one of the residents of the home. Under the pseudonym of Amal, a Twitter user, who presents herself as one of the girls from the social home, recounted the chain of events preceding the raid. Here is his testimony, published in a Twitter thread. بما إني من بنات الدار بقول الي صار بالتفصيل وكيف المعاملة ا؄همتلضة النه الهمجلض النه
في البداية اكتب لكم من حسابي الثاني عشان ما يلحقني شي. الي صار ان فيه وحدة من الخوات لأننا تعودنا كلنا نكون خوات ويد وحدة مع بعض طالبت بحقوقها وان المبلغ الي نزل لها ناقص#ايتام_خميس_مشيط— أمل 𝔸𝕄𝔸𝕃 ⚢ (@monbhera) August 31, 2022 “Nous sommes toutes terrorisées de ce dont on a été témoin , a lot of girls cried all night“A few girls in the hostel demanded their rights, especially the state bonus they were supposed to get but was missing. In addition, several girls have been prevented from continuing their higher education because the director simply refuses us this right. After a fruitless discussion with the director, one of the girls, exasperated and frustrated, tore up some administrative registers. Shortly after, the director called the police, then three “jailers” (home security guards) showed up in handcuffs and burst into the room of the girl who is at the origin of the scene. We tried to prevent them from entering, there were clashes, we threw objects from the room at their heads, we resisted as best we could! A little later, four policemen came in and beat up the girls who were obstructing the room. Those who found themselves inside then barricaded themselves. “The director, who was primarily responsible for what happened, is still in her position.” They then brought in firefighters as reinforcements, broke down the door and started beating the girls savagely with belts and sticks. I had bruises on my arms and neck. Other men dressed in civilian clothes even dragged girls by their hair into the courtyard of the hostel, they cried constantly but the police did not spare them. We are all terrified of what we witnessed, many girls cried all night. We have lived in fear since that day. We don’t know what will happen to the girls who have been hospitalized. Although an investigation is underway into the circumstances of this attack, the director, who was primarily responsible for what happened, is still in her position. Faced with the deluge of reactions since the broadcast of the videos and the incident, the local authorities of the principality of Assir, on which the home of Khamis Mushait depends, launched an investigation on August 31 into the circumstances of the attack, specifying that no search warrant was issued beforehand. To date, no information has been disclosed as to the outcome of the investigation. At the same time, residents of the home have reported on Twitter being bullied online, receiving accusations that they deserved the assault they suffered. Some have had to suspend their accounts to protect themselves. The incident is not the first in Saudi Arabia: in 2014, police broke into Abha’s social home for girls in similar circumstances. Testimonies indicate that these social centers serve indirectly as detention centers to which families send their “disobedient” daughters, even if they are adults.