6 year-old child tortured by her aunt in Beheira to be placed in orphanage

CAIRO - 30 April 2017: A 6 year-old child that had been tortured by her aunt in Beheira governorate, on the coast of Nile Delta in northern Egypt, will be placed in one of the care homes of the Ministry of Solidarity once she recovers, according to Nadia Abdo, Beheira Governor.

People of Koum el-Baraka village in Kafr el-Dawar city found the child, Habiba Eid, in the bathroom of her aunt’s house, completely naked and bearing signs of torture with burns scattered all over her body.

Habiba had pleaded not to be sent back to her aunt’s house, and to stay in hospital where she is being treated of the burns and beatings inflicted by her aunt. The girl showed manifest signs of psychological trauma.

Habiba and her 4 year-old brother were in the custody of their aunt after the death of their mother and the disappearance of their father.

This is not the first time for Habiba to be abused by her aunt; on a previous occasion, Habiba was found with a broken leg (should clarify the aunt was the culprit). The aunt has also severely beaten Habiba’s brother, Kareem, last Ramadan for peeing on himself, according to one of the neighbors of the accused, Fatima el-Habashy.

Habiba’s aunt, housewife Sanaa Morsi, was arrested by security services on charges of torturing her sister's daughter after stripping her clothes off.

A report of the incident was made available to the prosecution which decided to imprison the accused for 4 days pending investigation.

On his part, Dr. Alaa Othman, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in Beheira, affirmed his desire to provide full medical and mental health care to support, Habiba.

Last June, a total of 377 children faced different types of abuse in 225 different cases of violations ranging from kidnapping to drowning and rape, according to a report by the Egyptian Foundation for Advancement of Childhood Conditions (EFACC).