Officials are looking into a Giza orphanage after a video of its manager beating and torturing children was allegedly uploaded by his wife 'to expose him'
Authorities have opened an investigation into a video that circulated online Sunday showing children being physically abused in a Giza orphanage.
the orphanage director Was arrested on and the Attorney General and the Public Prosecution asking for medical examination on 13 children in the orphanage tormentors and demanding quickly investigations immediately
The video which sparked fury online showed a group of children being badly beaten and kicked allegedly by the orphanage manager.
The two-minute video clip published on Facebook and YouTube on Sunday showed a man, now known to be in the Makka El-Mokrama orphanage in the Haram area of Giza, while he was spanking and violently beating a group of children as punishment for apparently disobeying his orders and turning on the TV and opening the refrigerator without his permission.
It was not clear who filmed the clip, which was captured by mobile phone, or how it was uploaded online, but the children are wearing summer clothing, which suggested that it was taken recently.
However, on Sunday evening, the orphanage's owner – who is also the wife of the man – told that she had taken the video.
"I am the owner of that orphanage and the one who assaulted the children is my husband," said Elham Eid Awad.
"He used to beat the children and that's why I filmed him and uploaded it online: in order to expose him," she said, adding that she filmed the violent scene two months ago.
The video was shared by social media users who called on the prosecutor-general and government to investigate and arrest the orphanage's owner.
A group of children rights' activists also reported the video and the owner of the orphanage to the prosecutor-general.
The online campaign paid off when Ghada Wali, social solidarity minister, issued a decision to transfer the children to another orphanage and to investigate the case a few hours after the case was exposed online.
News reports later said that a police force and officials from the solidarity ministry had gone to the orphanage and taken the children to another orphanage.
In statements to private satellite channel ONTV Sunday, Wali said she had also reported the orphanage and its officials to the interior ministry as well the prosecutor-general.
She said her ministry had previously reported the same orphanage to the prosecutor-general for financial violations.
Earlier media reports showed several complaints dating back to 2011 regarding physical abuse and corruption by the orphanage's owner and manager.
Aziza Amar, head of social services at the ministry and in charge of the investigation into the orphanage, said that the incident in the video "has not yet been proven"
Giza governor dissolves board at orphanage accused of beating children
Giza governor dissolves the board of an orphanage in Giza following public outrage at a video showing the abuse of children by its manager
Giza governor Ali Abdel-Rahman has issued orders to dissolve the board of Makaa El-Mokarama orphanage in Haram following reports of child abuse in the orphanage.
Abdel-Rahman assigned a temporary committee to manage the orphanage for three months and assigned another committee to prepare a report about the violations committed by the orphanage manager and owner.
On Sunday, a video clip emerged online showing the orphanage manager and its owner beating violently a group of children in the orphanage for disobeying his orders, creating anger among social media users.
Social media users demanded the authorities open an immediate investigation. A group of children rights activists reported the clip as well the orphanage manager to the prosecutor general.
Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali also reported the incident to the prosecutor general, giving her quick orders to transfer the children to another orphanage until the end of investigations.
The prosecutor general started investigating the incident on Sunday night. He ordered the detention of the orphanage manager for 15 days pending investigations.
In another surprise related to the orphanage, the estranged wife of the orphange manager revealed to the media that she was the one who filmed her husband while beating the children in order to expose him. Despite her first statements that she filmed the abuse of children by her husband two months ago, she told other newspapers and websites that she filmed it a year ago.
Both the orphanage manager and his wife are currently being investigated.
Orphanage shut down after manager tortures children
Osama Mohamed Uthman, manager of orphanage, is arrested after his wife filmed him torturing children
Osama Mohamed Uthman ,Manager of Mecca Al-Mukarama Orphanage, beats and spanks a group of 13 children, mostly under the age of 10, one by one.
The wife of an orphanage manager released a video Sunday of her husband torturing children in the Mecca Al-Mukarama Orphanage, which he manages in Cairo’s Al-Haram neighbourhood.
“You cannot do anything in this country until you have evidence,” said Ilham, wife of the manager in question, Osama Mohamed Uthman.
In the video Ilham took, Uthman beats and spanks a group of 13 children, mostly under the age of 10, one by one. The prosecutor general’s office has begun investigations into the case, according to a Monday statement.
The prosecutor general ordered the immediate arrest of Uthman and his referral to the Cairo Criminal Court after investigations. The sentence for the crimes Uthman is accused of could be up to three years in prison, according to the statement.
Ali AbdelRahman, governor of Giza, decided Monday to dissolve the board of directors for Mecca Al-Mukarama Orphanage after the reports and condemnations of the torture video, which went viral on both official and social media.
He also decided to assign a temporary board of directorates to manage the orphanage for next three months until financial and administrative turmoil is settled, according to the Egyptian state news agency, MENA.
AbdelRahman said that the children are to be moved to a more credible orphanage as soon as investigations are over.
Ilham said she first received licence to open an orphanage in 2006, and by 2007 she was running the orphanage without her husband who was not living in Cairo at the time. In this orphanage, she was to raise 10 boys and 10 girls.
Four years later, her husband was back in Cairo. “When he came back,” Ilham said, “as the husband, he began taking control of all affairs related to work and the orphanage.”
As her husband took more responsibility, Ilham was no longer allowed to interfere nor visit the orphanage as much. This is why it took her a while to notice that the torture took place, she said.
She claimed that when they were younger, her husband did not beat them. When they got older, her husband began beating them for playing and moving around too much. “Later, I began hearing about the torture from the children and from the caretakers.”
Ilham said that while many have accused her of taking part in her husband’s crimes and creating a cover for him, she was unable to do anything without first providing evidence. “I was afraid of him and the employees were afraid of him, and I was unable to take any action,” she said.
In one instance Ilham recalled, one of the donors to the orphanage walked in to see Bassem, one of the children with his hands tightly tied. The donor went to file a complaint at the Ministry of Social Solidarity but Uthman immediately forged medical assessments claiming the children were in good health and claimed Bassem’s hands were tied “to protect him from playing with electricity”.
Ilham further said her husband used to beat their own three children as well, the oldest being 18 years old.
“He used to beat our children, but there is a difference. They are our children. An orphan should not be treated this way; patting on an orphan’s head is a great reward in the eyes of God, so what would hitting an orphan’s head entail?” she said.
Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali said on her Facebook page: “Our problems are plenty and the road ahead is long, but we will surely succeed with the will of God and the persistence of the Egyptians.”
Wali claimed that “regular visits are made to orphanages” and “there will be a supervisory system send up and policies to raise quality of this supervision [on orphanages].”
According to the Egyptian Coalition for Children’s Rights, violations against children’s rights in Egypt include: security officers’ use of children as human shields, cases of arbitrary arrest of children, widespread child labour, domestic and school violence, and more.
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