By Abdullah Al-Abdali
Okaz/Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — Police on Tuesday rescued an elderly man who was chained and locked up by his son in an apartment Al-Waziriyah district of Jeddah. Police reacted to a video that went viral on social media showing the 87-year-old man locked up in a room.
Mansour Al-Nahari, a resident of Al-Waziriyah, said four months ago someone had rented an apartment in the area.
“We saw a car arriving in front of the building. Three people got out of the car with an elderly man who was unable to move,” said Al-Nahari. Saud Ibrahim, another resident, said he was surprised to see the door of the apartment open one day.
“I walked past the door and the old man inside asked me to give him food and water. Since that day, people living in the area took turns in providing him with food and water. I even saw some people coming to the apartment every now and then. I once saw them put chains around the apartment's door handle,” said Ibrahim.
The police barged into the old man’s apartment around 11 a.m. Tuesday and took the man to King Abdulaziz Hospital with the help of paramedics.
National Society for Human Rights member Matuq Al-Sharif said the society will take up the case of the old man and will investigate why he was abandoned and locked up by his own son.
Okaz/Saudi Gazette has found out that the old man is Yemeni.
Makkah Police spokesman Col. Ati Al-Qurashi said police arrested the man’s son who is 37 years old. He told the police that his father had been suffering from a mental illness and that was the reason he locked him up in the apartment.
