Egyptian woman discovers she was sold by a nurse shortly after birth

 

Nurse allegedly sells baby for flat and cash, bride-to-be discovers truth 20 years later

Woman says she learned she was illegally handed to another family as an infant

Last updated: July 07, 2026 | 21:26

Huda Ata, Special to Gulf News

2 MIN READ

A nurse at a hospital in Egypt's Dakahlia Governorate handed over the newborn in exchange for a flat and a sum of money.

Dubai: What should have been the happiest chapter of a young Egyptian woman's life instead uncovered an alleged human trafficking case dating back nearly two decades, after her family unexpectedly refused to allow her to marry.

The woman, identified only as Nour, had accepted a marriage proposal when the family that raised her reportedly rejected the match without explanation, despite there being no apparent objections to the groom.

The refusal prompted a relative to intervene, revealing a secret that would upend Nour's life. According to her account, the relative told her that the people she had believed were her parents were not her biological family.

Shocked by the revelation, Nour confronted the woman she had known as her mother. After initially denying the claim, the woman allegedly admitted that she had acquired the infant through an illegal arrangement in 2006 after struggling with infertility.

According to the alleged confession, a nurse at a hospital in Egypt's Dakahlia Governorate handed over the newborn in exchange for a flat and a sum of money. The child was then allegedly registered under the name of the woman's husband using forged records.

Determined to uncover her origins, Nour launched her own search and eventually located the nurse said to have been involved in the transaction.

She said the nurse admitted details of the alleged deal during a confrontation. However, before revealing the identity of Nour's biological family, the nurse reportedly fled the country, cutting off what Nour described as her only remaining lead.

Now abandoned by the family that raised her, Nour said she is supported only by her husband as she continues her search for her biological parents.

"I don't want money or an inheritance," she said in an emotional appeal that has circulated widely on social media. "All I want is to hug my real mother, know my roots, and find out whether my family has been looking for me."

N.L. man abducts daughter and takes her to Egypt > The Law is no help

 

Newfoundland girl’s disappearance prompts calls for tougher laws to stop abductions

By Sarah Smellie  The Canadian Press

Posted December 5, 2025 6:32 am

 5 min read

Bouchra Marbouhi says she last saw her young daughter more than two months ago, when the girl left with her father for a routine sleepover.

The five-year-old never came home, she said.

Instead, Marbouhi said she got a series of texts the next day from her estranged husband, her daughter’s father, saying he had taken the child to Egypt. The Canadian Press has viewed the messages.

“I was shocked, I started crying,” Marbouhi said in a recent interview. “I honestly felt like I was dreaming.”

There was a temporary court order in place, forbidding the father from taking his daughter outside of St. John’s, N.L. But it wasn’t enough to prevent her daughter’s disappearance, Marbouhi said.

“I trusted the system to protect (my daughter) and I found out too late that how many gaps are there — no exit checks, no coordination between courts and borders,” she said.

The girl’s disappearance underscores long-standing concerns from women’s groups and family lawyers about the ease with which a parent can take a child to another country without the other parent’s knowledge or consent.

They have called for stronger systems and policies to prevent international abductions, especially for those involving children taken to countries that have not signed onto The Hague Convention, a global agreement aimed at curbing abductions.

“We need to have some kind of red flag system at international borders,” said lawyer Pamela Cross, who is a member of Ontario’s Domestic Violence Deaths Review Committee.

“Because we know that once a child is removed to a country that has not signed The Hague Convention, getting them back from that country is extremely difficult.”

Egypt is not part of The Hague Convention.

Marbouhi said she asked her estranged husband for a divorce many times over the eight years they have been married, but he wouldn’t agree.

It wasn’t until she moved to Canada last year that she found community support in St. John’s, N.L., to help her get away, she said.

In May, a judge with the family division of the provincial Supreme Court granted Marbouhi’s request for an interim non-removal order, saying neither parent could take their daughter out of the jurisdiction. The judge granted the order because they were convinced of “an immediate danger of the child’s removal,” according to documents shared with The Canadian Press.

The document said the judge was not prepared to order who the primary parent was, or whether the child’s father required supervised parenting time.

Marbouhi said they began a schedule in which her daughter spent Friday nights with her father, and came home Saturday. He picked her up as usual Sept. 26. On Sept. 27, Marbouhi said she received the texts saying he’d taken her daughter to Egypt.

She said she immediately phoned 911.

The police went to his house and found it empty, and then confirmed with the airport that he was gone, she said.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said in October it had issued a warrant for Ahmed Mohamed Shafik Abelfat Elgammal, Marbouhi’s estranged husband, on charges of abduction in contravention of a custody order.

The allegations against Elgammal have not been proven.

Attempts by The Canadian Press to contact Elgammal were unsuccessful.

Marbouhi is not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, and she is not guaranteed re-entry to Canada if she leaves the country.

“I’m trying to stay strong, but it’s too hard,” she said. “I need her, I need to be with her.”

The Canada Border Services Agency does not require people leaving Canada to speak with an agent the same way they must when they enter the country, said a spokesperson in an email. However, police can issue an Amber Alert, for example, and trigger an “enforcement flag” allowing border agents to stop someone, the email said.

Civil proceedings, such as family court orders, are not typically reported to the agency, said Luke Reimer.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said it did not issue an Amber Alert because the child was already out of the country when she was reported missing. The force is working with “numerous agencies to confirm the safety of the child,” said spokesperson Const. Stephanie Myers in an email.

Cross said better systems of scrutiny should be in place for people crossing borders with children, especially to countries that have not signed on to The Hague Convention.

“It should be, ‘Excuse me, sir, we just have to check with the child’s other parent. Can you and the child please wait here?'” she said. “Everything can be done with great courtesy.”

Anuradha Dugal, executive director of Women’s Shelters Canada, said her organization has long been calling for better coordination between federal and provincial authorities, so documents such as non-removal orders would not just be enforced in their originating province.

“What’s applied in a family law has to jive with what would be expected at the federal level,” Dugal said in an interview.

Women and children are most vulnerable when the woman leaves and takes steps to protect herself and her kids, Cross said. A court order really is just a piece of paper without a larger safety plan backing it up.

“We live in a global world now,” she said. “It’s going to take a collaborative response across all systems to improve the safety of women who do what any logical person would do and turn to the law to protect them.”

Marbouhi said she wished someone at the court — even the judge — had told her that the non-removal order came with little enforcement.

“It’s terrifying,” she said. “Any child can just disappear across borders.”

Islam - MENA > Egyptian slaughters sister - Honour killing; Eqypt's unexpected sensitivity to girls

..

An Egyptian slaughters his sister in the street in front of a

mosque for a shocking reason, days after her engagement!

Translated from “!مصري يذبح شقيقته في الشارع أمام مسجد لسبب صادم بعد أيام من خطوبتها,” 

Watanserb, September 12, 2023:

Watan – Egypt witnessed a heinous crime when a young man slaughtered his sister in the middle of the street, in front of Al-Hussein Mosque in Port Said Governorate.

The Assistant Minister of the Interior, Port Said’s Security Director, received a report about the killing of a girl by a young man on the street in front of a mosque in a new murder.

Local media quoted eyewitnesses as saying that two people on a motorcycle stopped the victim while she was walking on the street in front of the mosque.

One of the young men stabbed the girl with a knife, killing her with a wound in the neck; then he left her and fled.

The security services arrested the first accused and provided evidence of the second, and investigations revealed that the killer was the girl’s brother.

The killer’s name is Muhammad Nabil, and his sister Farida was 24 years old.

Islamic hysteria

Investigations indicated that the killer committed his crime because he objected to his sister’s engagement without his consent.

Farida works in a store that sells and rents wedding dresses in one of the tourist villages in Egypt, and she had a love affair with a young man that culminated in their official engagement.

But the killer rejected this engagement and asked his sister Farida to break it, but she refused, so he decided to get rid of her.

Investigations revealed that the killer, Muhammad Nabil, got a knife, rode a motorcycle with his friend, and stabbed his sister in the street.

Nabil injured his sister with a deep wound in the neck and a stab wound in the heart, causing her immediate death.

The prosecution, which took over the investigation, was notified.

This is one of the many extremely wrong issues with Islam. A brother can kill his sister because she doesn't obey his wishes. God doesn't give that right to any man. Yet Muslim men think so much of themselves and so little of women and girls that they do this kind of madness on a daily basis. Muslim migrants should be made aware of this the moment they set foot in a non-yet-Islamic country.

Has Iran's Fear of the Girl invaded Egypt, in a good way? It's a rare day that I can post a good news story about girls in Islam. If this keeps up for another couple hundred years, girls might be allowed to have hair.

Egypt bans niqabs in schools, allowing students to choose hijab

Educators urged to implement policy to take effect on Sept. 30 with kindness, sensitivity

Published:  September 12, 2023 16:18

Khitam Al Amir, Chief News Editor

Gulf News

Education Minister Reda Hegazy emphasised the importance of allowing students to make their choices regarding wearing hijab independently, free from external influence or pressure. Illustrative image.

Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: The Egyptian government has issued a formal ban on the wearing of face-covering niqabs in schools, with the new policy set to take effect at the beginning of the next academic term, starting on September 30.

Education Minister Reda Hegazy made the announcement, clarifying that students would still have the option to wear a headscarf but must not obscure their faces in any manner.

Hegazy emphasised the importance of allowing students to make their choices regarding wearing hijab independently, free from external influence or pressure.

He also urged educators, especially those teaching Arabic language, religious studies, and social and psychological education, to implement this policy with kindness and sensitivity, taking into account the psychological well-being and age appropriateness of the students.

Implement this policy with kindness and sensitivity, taking into account

the psychological well-being and age appropriateness of the students.

The niqab ban, a traditional garment with deep religious significance for many Muslim women, has stirred strong reactions on social media.

While some vehemently oppose the ban, others expressed their support, reflecting the divided opinions within Egyptian society.

Critics argue that the ban infringes upon religious freedoms guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution and violates civil liberties. They assert that the state should not dictate individuals’ religious attire choices. It’s worth noting that various public and private institutions in Egypt have already implemented niqab bans. For example, Cairo University prohibited face veils for teaching staff in 2015, and this rule was upheld by an Egyptian court in 2020.

This Week's Global Pervs and Paedos List > Hamilton Tutor Arrested for multiple CSAs; Raped Refugees get no help in Egypt; PEI Man - Worst Human Behaviour; Norfolk Creep had 159 Child Victims

..

Child sex assault investigation leads to arrest of Hamilton tutor

By Liam McConnell

Published November 23, 2022 at 7:05 pm

The Hammer

Hamilton tutor Alistair Martin-Smith has been charged in connection to three child sexual assaults.

A private tutor from Hamilton, Ontario has been arrested on his return to Canada after three students were sexually assaulted.

Two separate sets of parents in Richmond Hill reported to York Regional Police on November 10 that their children had been sexually assaulted during private tutoring sessions.

The ensuing investigation revealed both families had separately hired the same man to teach their three children, all of whom reported attacks. All three children are under 16 years old.

Police issued a warrant for the arrest of Alistair Martin-Smith, 67, of Hamilton, on November 16. He was charged with three counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual interference.

However, Martin-Smith could not be found. Investigators believed that he had left the country and it turns out their hunch was well-founded.

On November 23, York police announced they had arrested Martin-Smith two days prior. Martin-Smith was arrested at the airport on his return to the country.

He will appear in a Newmarket courtroom on December 20. Anyone with information about the case can call the York Regional Police Special Victims Unit at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7071 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS.

Police say there may be more victims out there and encourage any to come forward. 

There is no statute of limitations on sexual assault so victims can come forward at any time, even years after the assault.

Investigators recommend victims report their assaults online as long as they are not in immediate danger, their attacker is not around, and they have access to a private email.

However, if the victim was assaulted in the last 12 days, evidence can still be collected. In this case, victims should call 911 as soon as they safely can.

York Region Police, as well as most other police services, also offer numerous victim services supports for those who do not feel ready to report.

Egypt: Sexually Abused Refugees Find No Justice

Lack of Investigation, Follow Up by Police - Cairo the most dangerous city for Women

A refugee survivor of sexual assault, Cairo, Egypt, October 16, 2019.  © 2019 Reuters

(Beirut) – The Egyptian authorities have failed to protect vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers from pervasive sexual violence, including by failing to investigate rape and sexual assault, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch documented 11 incidents of sexual violence committed in Egypt between 2016 and 2022 against seven Sudanese and Yemeni refugees and asylum seekers, including one child. All six women, including a transgender woman, said that men raped them, and four said they were assaulted in two or more incidents, while the child’s mother said a man raped her 11-year-old daughter. Three said the police refused to file incident reports, three said they were too intimidated to report the incident at all, and one woman said a police employee sexually harassed her when she tried to report a rape.

“Not only are refugee women and girls in Egypt living in vulnerable situations at risk of sexual violence, but the authorities seem to have no interest in protecting them or investigating the incidents, let alone bringing the rapists to justice,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities’ evident lack of interest in these cases leaves refugee women with no place to turn for justice.”

Sexual violence against women and girls in Egypt has been a pervasive problem in recent years as the government has largely failed to establish and carry out proper policies and investigation systems or enact necessary legislation to address the problem. In 2017, a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey stated that Cairo, where more than a third of refugees in Egypt live according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), was the world’s most dangerous megacity for women.

Many refugee communities in Cairo and Giza are located in poorer neighborhoods and areas with high crime rates. This exacerbates the risks for refugee women and girls, whom attackers already appear to target based on their actual or perceived vulnerability linked to poverty and legal status.

Human Rights Watch interviewed six women and the mother of the child, three aid workers, and a lawyer, all in Egypt. In four cases, Human Rights Watch reviewed additional evidence including photographs and medical reports corroborating the accounts.

All six women said they experienced severe physical effects of the rape, such as bleeding or inflammation, difficulty walking, bruises, soreness, and other injuries. Three of the rapes resulted in pregnancy. Police referred none of the four who approached them to forensic or health care services.

Survivors also reported several psychological issues including sleeping problems, constant feelings of fear including of being followed, anger, frustration, depression, and memory issues. The transgender woman said she had suicidal thoughts.

Most transgender women have suicidal thoughts.

Five of the women are Sudanese, two refugees and three asylum seekers registered with  UNHCR. The other two are Yemeni, one a registered refugee and the other a registered asylum seeker. All arrived in Egypt between 2016 and 2020. One rapist was from Syria, another from Sudan, and the rest were Egyptian. At least one attack, in which the woman was abducted and repeatedly assaulted, appears to have been racially motivated. The survivor reported that the Egyptian rapist said, “let us enjoy this Black skin color.”

The women all said they could not afford to hire a lawyer.

There is much more on this story at Human Rights Watch

P.E.I. man sentenced to 7 years for sexually assaulting young girls

Case 'demonstrates the very worst of human behaviour,' judge says

So, how come he only got 7 years? Canadian judges are so pathetic!

CBC News · 

Posted: Dec 05, 2022 5:03 PM AT | 

A 57-year-old man pleaded guilty to one count of incest and two counts of sexual interference. (CBC)

Warning: This story contains disturbing details.

A Kings County man was sentenced to seven years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to sex offences involving three children — two of them his young relatives.

There is a publication ban protecting the identity of the victims, so CBC News is not naming the 57-year-old offender. 

The victims, now teenagers and accompanied by their families, broke down in tears at times during the sentencing in P.E.I. Supreme Court.

One of the victims was the offender's granddaughter, another was his step-granddaughter, and the third was one of their friends.

According to the agreed statement of facts presented in court, he sexually assaulted the three girls on several occasions over the course of several years in the Three Rivers area, often without using protection. The assaults happened inside his home, in his car, and at other locations. 

His youngest victim, his granddaughter, was just five when this started.

The crimes continued until last fall, when the victims told their parents, who went to RCMP.

The man was arrested, and has been in jail ever since.

He pleaded guilty to one count of incest and two counts of sexual interference. Twelve other charges were stayed. 

He ruined innocent lives and so many childhood experiences that should be happy

and joyful. All I see is pain and suffering.

— Teenager who presented victim impact statement

After the plea, one of his victims gave an impact statement to the court, choking back tears as she described how much he hurt her.

"He made me hate myself and my body. He made me feel vulnerable and useless," she said.

"He ruined innocent lives and so many childhood experiences that should be happy and joyful. All I see is pain and suffering."

Judge Jonathan Coady accepted the Crown and defence joint recommendation of a seven-year prison sentence, minus time served.

So it's not so much the judge's fault as Crown Counsel's unthinkably pathetic sentence recommendation. The man abused 3 kids for years, destroyed their childhood and sorely affected their adulthood, and they will probably still be teenagers when he is released. How is that 'justice served'?

He noted that the sentence would have been longer if not for the fact the offender pleaded guilty, saving the victims from the trauma of having to retell their stories at trial.

The case "demonstrates the very worst of human behaviour," Coady said.

"The harm cost by these offences is real, profound, and will remain…. That harm is impossible to measure or quantify.

"No sentence imposed by this court will remedy the harms."

No, but a decent sentence might protect some other children from being destroyed by this pervert. It appears neither the Crown Counsel nor the judge considered that. Children always end up paying for the insanity and stupidity of man.

Former Norfolk football coach who had 159 child sex victims

9th December

By Peter Walsh

Eastern Daily Press

A school worker and football coach posed as a teenage boy in order to carry out sex offences on more than 150 children.

Jonathan Clarke, 32, a supervisor at Thorpe St Andrew High School, created a false profile on a number of social media accounts, presenting himself as two teenage boys to chat with his victims and engage them in sexual activity.

Eastern Daily Press: 

Clarke, who also worked as a football coach with Soccer Stars at a number of Norfolk infant and primary schools, would get victims to commit the acts of sexual activity online.

He also threatened to expose some of them for what they had done or harm their families if they did not do as he asked.

In all, Clarke admitted 54 charges spanning more than a decade and asked for a further 127 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

There were a total of 159 victims, all under 16.

His offences, carried out between 2010 and 2022, included the making of indecent images, sexual communications with a child, inciting children to engage in sexual acts, voyeurism, and blackmail.

Norwich Crown Court heard Clarke was arrested on January 6 this year following a police investigation into social media messages where victims were encouraged to send nude images.

It came after concerns were raised to the safeguarding lead at the Thorpe school about someone purporting to be a child online.

The victim had been contacted by the defendant via social media and asked to take their clothes off, exposing their breast and genital area.

Detectives from the specialist Safeguarding Children Online Team (SCOLT) carried out enquiries into the communications and obtained an IP address linked to Clarke’s home.

Clarke was arrested and a search carried out at his former address in Highview Close, Blofield, where officers seized 14 electronic devices including eight laptops.

Police initially found around 200 indecent images ranging from Category A, the most serious, to Category C. A total of 5,017 indecent images and videos of children were ultimately found.

Clarke appeared at court on Friday (December 9) for sentencing during which Marc Brown, prosecuting, read out statements from some of the victims and their families.

The mother of one victim, who described Clarke as a "predatory monster", said she felt she had "failed" her child as a result of what they were subjected to.

She said what Clarke did to her child would affect them for the rest of their life.

One victim described how they were “shocked and disgusted” when they learnt the ‘boy’ they’d been chatting to online was a man.

Another victim described what happened as "terrible" and added it had affected both their confidence and trust in people.

Passing an extended sentence of 27 years - made up of 19 years imprisonment and eight years on licence - Judge Alice Robinson said Clarke had committed a "catalogue of online sexual abuse of children".

It's disappointing! Clarke will be out in ten years when many of his victims will still be in their teens. He should be made to serve the entire 19 years.

Eastern Daily Press: 

Judge Robinson said the impact of this offending has caused "serious psychological harm" to his victims.

Judge Robinson praised police for their work in this "difficult and distressing case" during which his "depravity has been revealed".

Michael Clare, mitigating, said Clarke was entitled to full credit for his guilty pleas.

At the time of his arrest, Clarke worked at Thorpe St Andrew High School as a lettings assistant and cover supervisor. He also worked for Soccer Stars, a company which operated after-school clubs.

Through Soccer Stars contracts, he taught PE lessons at Lingwood Primary School and after-school football clubs at Brundall Primary and Lionwood Infant and Nursery School. Clarke also coached teams at Blofield United Youth Football Club.

When the allegations first came to light, Clarke was immediately suspended from all roles and was later dismissed. 

Speaking after the case, Senior Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Dave McCormack described Clarke's offending as "horrendous ".

He said: "Clarke was predatory and manipulative in his offending and it’s pleasing he’s behind bars where he can no longer pose a danger to children.

“This result wouldn’t have been possible without the support of victims, their parents and the schools and football club who have provided unwavering support to make sure we get the right result for victims."

Clarke was put on the sex offenders register for life. 

Anyone who has concerns about someone online can report it to police by calling 101.

The NSPCC also operates helplines and anyone who has concerns about a child’s safety should email help@nspcc.org.uk or call 0808 800 5000.

Norfolk, UK

Shocking Confessions From Kidnapper of Christian Girls

War on Christianity - Egyptian Style

And, of course, it's the girls who suffer the consequences

BY MEIRA SVIRSKY

An Egyptian Coptic Christian woman mourns the death of a fellow Copt in a terrorist attack.

(Photo: Reuters)

Kidnapping and forcible conversion of Christian girls in Egypt are reportedly at an all-time high. A report from a former kidnapper who has since left Islam sheds light on this horrific phenomenon.

Identified only as “G” in an interview with World Watch Monitor, the former kidnapper says, “Salafist networks began in the ’70s and it’s reached its highest levels now, in the era of President Sisi … A group of kidnappers meets in a mosque to discuss potential victims. They keep a close eye on Christians’ houses and monitor everything that’s going on. On that basis, they weave a spider’s web around [the girls],” he says.

Sometimes they use a strategy of false romance. “A Muslim boy tells a Christian girl he loves her and wants to convert to Christianity for her,” he explains. “They start a romantic relationship until one day they decide to ‘escape’ together. What the girls don’t know is that they are actually being kidnapped. Most of the time they will not marry their kidnapper, but someone else …

“I remember a Coptic Christian girl from a rich, well-known family in Minya. She was kidnapped by five Muslim men. They held her in a house, stripped her and filmed her naked. In the video, one of them also undressed. They threatened to make the video public if the girl wouldn’t marry him.”

Vulnerable girls from troubled families or where the father is absent are prime targets. If a girl is a minor, papers are forged claiming she is over 18, the legal age of conversion and marriage.

G says that the police are often complicit in the kidnappings – usually because they receive a payoff but also for ideological reasons. Even if they would like to do something to help the girl or her family, they refrain “because they are afraid of the militant groups,” said Egyptian Human Rights Activist Ebram Loius.

“The kidnappers receive large amounts of money. Police can help them in different ways, and when they do, they might they might also receive a part of the financial reward the kidnappers are paid by the Islamization organisations,” says G.

“In some cases, police provide the kidnappers with drugs they seize. The drugs are then given to the girls to weaken their resistance as they put them under pressure. I even know of cases in which police offered helped to beat up the girls to make them recite the Islamic creed.

“And the value of the reward increases whenever the girl has a position. For example, when she is the daughter of a priest or comes from a well-known family,” he added.

Kidnappers can be paid as much as $3,000 per girl if they deliver the girl to an extremist organization.

While the kidnappers and the police are usually motivated by money, the aim of the Salafists behind the kidnappings is ideological – to strengthen Islam and weaken Christianity, G says.

“The networks have tens of thousands of members and are financed by wealthy Muslims, mostly from Saudi Arabia. Sometimes they also loot or steal from Christian companies to finance their plans,” says a priest in Minya who has only successfully ransomed eight Christian girls in the past 10 years.

Considering the fact that 15 girls in Minya alone “go missing” every year, that number is very low.

“If all goes to plan, the girls are also forced into marriage with a strict Muslim,” says G. “Their husbands don’t love them, they just marry her to make her a Muslim. She will be hit and humiliated. And if she tries to escape, or convert back to her original religion, she will be killed.

“The most shocking thing is some girls find out that they are a second wife and are treated like animals. Some are sent to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf to work as domestic servants and they are exploited sexually and are seriously physically abused.”

A researcher who requested anonymity, confirmed G’s analysis of the situation. “[These kidnappings] are something that happen in Egypt almost on a daily basis. But in 80% of cases, families prefer not to speak publicly to avoid shame which will make their other daughters less eligible to find a good marriage partner,” he said.

U.S. Aid Worker Acquitted After 3-year Detention in Egypt

Two weeks after President Sissi visited Trump in Washington,

and after the issue was raised during the visit, Aya Hijazi is freed.

Will the MSM credit Trump for this? Not very likely.

By Allen Cone

Aya Hijazi, 30, was cleared of child abuse and human trafficking charges in Cairo on Sunday after nearly three years in pretrial detention. Photo courtesy of George Mason University School for Conflict Analysis & Resolutuion

UPI -- An Egyptian court acquitted an American aid worker Sunday after she spent nearly three years in pretrial detention in Cairo.

The courtroom erupted in cheers after Aya Hijazi, 30, was cleared of child abuse and human trafficking charges. Cairo Criminal Court Judge Mohamed el-Feqqi also dropped all charges against her Egyptian husband, Mohamed Hassanein, and six other defendants.

Co-defendants including Hijazi's husband in the white shirt on the right.

Hijazi, who has dual American and Egyptian citizenship, was arrested in May 2014 with others at the Beladi Foundation, a nonprofit organization she founded to care for street children in Cairo. 

Hijazi grew up in Virginia and was an undergraduate at George Mason's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution in Fairfax, Va., before moving to Cairo to work with street children.

Government prosecutors accused the couple of human trafficking and sexually abusing children in their care. The potential sentences ranged from five years' hard labor to life in prison.

The couple had been held beyond the two-year limit in pretrial detention.

"The case of Aya Hijazi and her co-defendants has been nothing less than a travesty of justice," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, before the verdict. "Defendants have been unable to meet privately with lawyers, hearings have been repeatedly adjourned for long periods, while the court has routinely rejected, without explanation, numerous requests for release on bail, resulting in what appears to amount to arbitrary detention."

A forensic report concluded abuse against children occurred before 2014. And the defense argued that evidence was tampered with.

The defendants sat in a metal cage Sunday like other times during the trial. The hearings were the only opportunity for the couple -- married one year before they were detained -- to see each other.

They were to be released after being processed.

Hassanein said they hoped to return to their work with street children.

"We promised them that we could come back," he said to a New York Times reporter while speaking from the courtroom cage. "Children are wealth, and they were strong while we have been in prison. We want to go back to the streets."

But he said he was unsure if the government would allow them to resume that work.

"Foreign funding is just a reason," Mohamed Zaree of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies said to The New York Times. "It's a way of targeting anyone who has an independent voice, or is critical of the current regime."

Several thousand Egyptians have been detained or forcibly disappeared by security forces since Abdel Fatah al-Sissi led a coup against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in summer 2013.

On April 3, President Donald Trump and Sissi met in Washington, his first visit to the United States since he came to power.

Senior American officials raised her case during Sisi's visit, Hijazi's brother Basel Hijazi said in a phone interview with the New York Times from Ireland.

Egyptian Man Charged with Raping 20-Month-Old Girl to Face Trial

© Jorge Silva / Reuters

An Egyptian man accused of raping a 20-month-old girl will soon face trial over the charges, according to local media. Prosecutors say the defendant has confessed to the crime.

The man was arrested on Friday after allegedly kidnapping the baby girl on the same day as she played in front of her house in Belqas village, located in the Nile Delta governorate of Daqahliya, Ahram Online reported.

The 35-year-old then took her to a secluded area and raped her, according to investigations conducted by the prosecution. He later fled the scene, leaving her in a pool of her own blood, according to Egypt’s Youm7 newspaper.

The toddler was later found by residents and taken to a nearby hospital where she received emergency surgery for vaginal bleeding. She suffered heavy blood loss, Al Arabiya reported, citing local media.

She was later released from hospital.

The Egyptian prosecution referred the man for trial on Monday evening, according to Ahram Online. However, Al Arabiya said the prosecution has merely ordered a four-day detention for the man, pending further investigation.

The man has reportedly confessed to the crime, according to the prosecution.

Egypt's National Council for Women, Daqahliya branch, issued a statement demanding the maximum penalty for the defendant on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the girl's mother has expressed sorrow following the tragic incident.

"My daughter can’t utter the words mama and papa yet, and all of this has happened to her. My heart is burning and there’s nothing I can do for her,” she said, as quoted by Egypt Independent.

The child's grandfather said that "execution is not even enough" for the defendant.

“I don’t know how a 35-year-old person can do this to a child who is a year and eight months old, who cannot even speak yet and still wears diapers," he said.

The incident has also angered the local community, with Al-Ahram news website reporting that residents of the village had attempted to burn the defendant's house down. Many on social media have demanded nothing less than execution for the man.

The National Council for Women is set to hold a meeting to discuss providing aid to the child and her family.

How do you even begin to help a 20-month old child recover from such trauma? Please pray for her.

Nile Delta, Egypt

Egyptian Girl Dies During Banned Female Genital Mutilation Operation

Authorities investigate after 17-year-old died under

general anaesthetic in a private hospital,

despite FGM being illegal in the country

Unicef says at least 200 million women worldwide have been subjected to genital mutilation.
Photograph: UNICEF/ASSELIN/EPA

Agence France-Presse

Egyptian prosecutors are investigating the death of a teenage girl during a female genital mutilation operation at a private hospital.

Mayar Mohamed Mousa, 17, died in a hospital in the province of Suez on Sunday while under full anaesthesia, said Lotfi Abdel-Samee, the local health ministry undersecretary.

Suez, Egypt

“This is something that the law has prohibited,” stressed Abdel-Samee.

Despite the ban in 2008, female genital mutilation (FGM) is still widespread in Egypt, especially in rural areas. It is practised among Muslims as well as Egypt’s minority Christians.

The law led to the first prison sentence against a doctor in Egypt in January 2015, with the girl’s father in that case given a three-month suspended sentence.

The doctor in that case never served a day in prison; he settled with the family. In most Islamic states that's all that's required, even for murder. See Suhair al Bataa, below.

On Sunday, Mousa’s sister had just undergone the operation before she was sent in for surgery.

The girls’ mother is a nurse, while their late father was a surgeon. The operation was being carried out by a registered female doctor, according to Abdel-Samee.

Authorities shut down the hospital on Monday after transferring patients to other hospitals as prosecutors questioned the hospital manager and medical staff involved in the operation, Abdel-Samee said.

They have also spoken to the mother, a prosecution official said.

The case was opened after a health inspector reported the circumstances of the girl’s death.

Medical examiners have carried out an autopsy, and are due to report the cause of death, said Abdel-Samee.

While 200 million women and girls worldwide have been subjected to the practise, there have been major strides in Egypt, as well as Liberia, Burkina Faso, and Kenya against FGM, according to Claudia Cappa, the lead author of a February UN children’s agency report on the issue.

“The latest figures from the Egypt Demographic and Health Survey show that we’re winning,” the United Nations Development Programme said in a report last year.

“Mothers’ attitudes are changing, too,” UNDP said.

While 92% of mothers had undergone the procedure, only 35% of them “intend to circumcise their daughters,” according to the UNDP report.

Victims of the procedure are left to cope with a range of consequences from bleeding and pain while urinating, extreme discomfort during sex, fatal complications in childbirth and deep psychological trauma.

In 2013, Suhair al Bataa, also died from an FGM procedure in an Egyptian hospital. She was 13 years old.

Honour Killing: 2 Year Old Raped by Grandfather; Murdered by Mother

Merfat (left), 23, and her father Faraj (right), 59, were arrested for the
rape and murder of 2-year-old Grace Ahmed

A Muslim mother awoke one night to her screaming toddler being brutally raped by the child’s grandfather. In a sickening effort to preserve family honor, the mother decided that there was only one thing to do that would save them from “scandal” in their town.

Emirates 24|7 reports that after 23-year-old Merfat had put her child down for the night, she retired to her bedroom in the house she shared with her 59-year-old father, Faraj, in Sohag, Egypt. However, she soon awoke to the cries of her little girl, coming from her father’s room.

Merfat opened the door to find her daughter, 2-year-old Grace Ahmed, being violently raped by Faraj, the child’s own grandfather.

Instead of attacking her daughter’s rapist and saving her child, Merfat ran some bath water in a small tub, undressed the girl, and placed her terrified, bleeding baby inside. At the hands of her own mother, little Grace was held underwater until she drowned.

According to Merfat, she murdered her own daughter to “avoid scandal” in the overwhelmingly Muslim town.

Chief Detective Ali Akhmim told Karama Press that the medical examiner found “traces of blood” in the child’s anus, revealing that the little girl suffered immensely before her death.

Police arrested Merfat and Farah, and charged them with murder and rape respectively.

Murdering the victims of rape is nothing new under Islam. In fact, honor killings and punishment under Sharia law are so common that rape is rarely reported in strict Islamic countries.

Under Sharia law, if a woman accuses a man of rape, she must produce four male witnesses to testify on her behalf. If she cannot, she is either lashed or put to death for extra-marital sex.

Because of this medieval Islamic law required by the prophet Muhammad, woman and children suffer sexual abuse in silence, fearing that their family will disown or murder them.

Mad World News recently reported that Muslim women and children are often given virginity tests upon marriage. If they are found to be “defiled,” the bride is in danger of several severe punishments.

“In some cases, a bride’s ears and nose are cut off,” she explained. “They are forced into dirty clothes and taken back to her parent’s home. Their heads are shaved. The bride’s family is told that she is not a virgin. Other times, a bride is simply killed and her body is returned to her parents.”

Over 90 percent of honor killings worldwide are committed by Muslims, and over half of all Muslims surveyed by Pew Research agreed that honor killing over sex was justified.

Even more terrifying is that at least 1 in 10 Muslims in the UK support killing family members over “dishonor,” and 1 in 3 believe that a wife should be forced to unquestionably submit to their husbands.

Leftists love to purport that those opposed to Islam hate Muslims, yet they do not speak out for the victims of Islamic fundamentalists. These women and children are often the victims of their own backwards ideology, and the only ones speaking out in their defense are those opposing Islamic doctrine and law.

It is sickening that the left demands support and respect for this inhumane ideology, which requires adherence to its equally brutal legislation. Truly, liberals are the defenders of the abusers, and until they denounce this evil governance, their political correctness will continue to silence the abused.

H/T [The Religion Of Peace]
Photo Credit [Karama Press, Fact International]