A Saudi man was all over the news a few days ago for putting up his son for sale on Facebook – for a whopping $20 million. Now he says that he did it only to bring attention to his poverty, and he didn’t really intend to sell his son.

In a country where the male child is regarded precious, it came as a shock when Saud bin Nasser Al Shahry did the unthinkable. He was under serious attack and criticism, especially from religions leaders of the nation. A prominent Islamic scholar, Sheikh Mohammed Al Nujaimi said that Al Shahry had violated Islam by offering to sell his child despite his financial problems. Al Shahry responds that he never did want to sell his son. Facing bankruptcy, and with no one else willing to help him, he had to resort to such an extreme measure. “Of course I never intended to sell my son. I only made this announcement to attract the attention of decision makers in the country to my tragedy after I became jobless and started to beg for food and clothes,” he told local newspapers.

According to him, when the authorities decided to shut his debt-collecting business, he was faced with unemployment and utter poverty. When he approached the Labor Ministry for his unemployment allowance, he says he was refused for being above 35 years of age. He then tried to sell his son on Facebook in the hopes of attracting the attention of King Abdullah to his plight. He even put up a condition that he should know which city his son would be taken to after the deal was made.

But the religious scholars aren’t buying any of it. “What this man has done is prohibited in Islam,” said Al Nujaimi. “Whatever the case, he should not have offered to sell his son. This man has resorted to an illegal way to draw the attention of decision-makers to his ordeal. What he has done has hurt the entire society, the means does not justify the end in this case. How does he want to attract attention by selling his son.”

via Venture Beat