Film producers probed for exploiting underage girl

The Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP) in Jeddah has opened a investigation into a case filed by a resident claiming that a film production company had exploited his underage daughter to portray scenes of sexual harassment in a movie, local media said.
The case is being followed closely by a number of investigative bodies, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) and the Ministry of Culture and Information.
The nine-year-old girl’s father reportedly discovered that his daughter was involved in a scene on sexual harassment without his knowledge, sources told a local daily.
“I was shocked to see the part of the film where my daughter appears in an objectionable scene without my knowledge or consent,” he told the paper, adding that the matter had prompted him to file a complaint with the Ministry of Culture and Information, police, the BIP and the NSHR for a speedy investigation into the case.
He said that the film production company had trained his innocent daughter to do the revealing scenes. He also accused the company of creating a rift among his family members noting that one of his relatives had introduced the girl to the film producers, according to the daily.
Professor of Law at the Jeddah-based King Abdulaziz University Omar Al-Khuli said that the incident is considered a form of human trafficking and had deprived the minor from her father’s custodianship which was punishable by law under anti-human trafficking regulations.