(CMR) Saudi authorities have arrested a man seen in a viral video that showed him beating his baby daughter because she was not yet able to stand.
The man, identified as Yousif Alqutai – a Palestinian resident of Saudi Arabia – was filmed beating his daughter in an attempt to force the baby to stand up despite her tender age.
He is seen grabbing her by the neck while shouting at her, before then proceeding to hang her from her ears. He then lifts her up and throws her down on the floor multiple times to see if she would land on her legs.
His family has since said that they are disowning him and that he only did it get attention because he's unemployed. They claimed he was looking sympathy from others in hopes that it would help him find a job and that the video was four years old. Alqutai also blamed his wife for his acts of abuse, claiming she left him with their four children, which caused him to break down.
“Their mother left all four of our children with me and it has been difficult – as you can see in front of you there’s nothing wrong with them. I urge you all to pray for me instead of praying against me,”
he said in the Arabic statement.
Alqutai later appeared on social media to release a statement with his baby daughter, claiming the video was filmed “a long time ago” and pleading for forgiveness. He also was reported as saying:
“As you can all see now she is perfectly fine. I tried to teach her to walk and now look by the grace of God she walks by herself.”
Despite this, the authorities appear to have had no mercy on him as he was recorded being beaten by them.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid