mobanmarketCairo: The death of a village child after torture by her grandmother has sparked outrage in Egypt and put in focus domestic violence against children in the country.
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Jana Mohammad Samir, a five-year-girl, died on Saturday at a hospital in the Nile Delta province of Mansura days after she had been brought there with severe burns.
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Jana’s parents divorced about four years ago.
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She and her older sister Amani, now aged six, moved along with their blind mother to live at their grandmom’s house under a court ruling in a custody lawsuit.
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Three days before her death, Jana had her leg amputated due to wounds allegedly caused by the grandma’s torture.
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Her aunt claimed in police investigations that Jana told her that the grandmother had burnt her around the genitalia in order to conceal traces of a sexual assault by her maternal uncle.
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The 41-year-old grandma, now in police custody, denied the allegations, but could not explain the cause of the fatal wounds sustained by the child.
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Relatives said the woman used to beat her up over involuntary urination.
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Thousands attend funeral
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Thousands of angry mourners attended Jana’s funeral on Saturday at her Delta village of Busat Karim.
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Some of them chanted: “We want Jana’s right and the execution of the grandma.”
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The child’s tragic death riveted attention of several night-time TV stations and drew comments from some celebrities.
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“Jana died after she had been tortured by a close relative,” said famous actress Sherine Reda. “But how many more Jana are there and we know nothing on them?”Sherine added in a tweet.
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She urged the public to report to authorities about suspected torturers of children.
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The state National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, meanwhile, demanded the death penalty for culprits in Jana’s death, describing it as a premeditated murder.
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“The council is following up investigations and procedures with the public prosecution,” the agency’s chairwoman Azza Ashmawy said in a statement.
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The grandma faces life imprisonment or even death if she is convicted of deadly torture, according to legal experts.
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Ashmawy said the council is acting to provide protecting for Jana’s older sister, Amani, who was reportedly subjected to torture by her grandma too.
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In recent months, several parents, mainly fathers, were convicted in Egypt of killing their children due to family disputes or under drug influence.
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