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11-year-old rape victim tells her story amid

accusations by Azhar scholar
Pierre Loza
Published in Daily News Egypt on 30 - 08 - 2007
CAIRO: The story of eleven-year-old Hind, who gave birth
after being raped, shocked the nation when it broke a few
weeks ago. Further exacerbating the situation were the
words of Al Azhar University's Islamic jurisprudence
scholar, Souad Saleh, who issued a fatwa stating that the girl
and her father deserved the punishment of "eighty flogs for
defamation.
Saleh's judgment came after a forensic DNA report had
ruled out the possibility that the alleged rapist, 21 year old
toktok driver, Mohamed Samy had committed the crime and
is the father of the child.
On the August 8 episode of the daily Channel 2 magazine
show El Beit Beitak, Saleh said, in a phone-in to host
Mohamed Saad that her fatwa was previously published in
Rose Al Youssef magazine. Saleh also questioned the fact
that Hind was 11 years old at the time of the rape, stating
explicitly that she was 16.
"That girl's statements are audacious, Saleh told Saad who
"saluted her stance.
"If this sort of thing goes unchecked, then any girl can
accuse a man of rape and he would have to prove the
opposite by getting a DNA test, Saad agreed with Saleh.
"They should be flogged in public, said Souad on the show,
in addition to accusing the girl's family of "blackmailing the
alleged rapist and "bargaining with his daughter's honor.
Saleh's controversial fatwa was criticized by a number of
prominent journalists including Ibrahim Seada, of the state-
run El Akhbar newspaper. In his Aug. 20 column, which
Saleh responded to with another article in the same
newspaper, Seada questioned whether Saleh would stand
behind her fatwa if something so tragic had happened to her
own grandchild.
When the case became a public opinion issue, Hind and her
family moved from Matariya to El Marg, where the
government gave them a flat in one of the low-income
housing projects, through the aid of the Qalyoubia governor
and Egypt's First Lady.
Hind's volunteer lawyer, Mohamed Saad recently filed a
complaint against Saleh at the public prosecutor's office
objecting to how her comments swayed public opinion
against Hind.
"How can you accuse a father of bargaining with their
daughter's honor? Hind's father Mohamed Eid, told Daily
News Egypt.
Eid began the interview by presenting his daughter's birth
certificate to disprove claims that she was 16 instead of 11
when she got pregnant, "she will be 12 years old on
September 28, said Eid.
He discovered his daughter's pregnancy in her fifth month.
She kept silent about her rape for several months until she
began complaining of stomach ache in early January 2007,
when they found out that she was pregnant.
Hind's family turned to the media after they learned that
there was a chance the case her rapist might be dismissed. At
which point the public prosecutor adopted the case and
reopened the investigation.
"I tried my best to be as wise as possible and to work within
the channels of the law, Eid said.
Despite public announcements to help Hind from
organizations like the Higher Council for Childhood and
Motherhood, according to the family no funding has reached
them. The only NGO that helped Hind, according to Eid,
was Downtown Cairo's Nadim Center, which is currently
working on Hind's psychological rehabilitation and also
providing much-needed baby supplies.
"Souad Saleh has judged the plaintiffs and also passed the
verdict of flogging on them, as if no one exists except her. In
my opinion this woman's comments have tarnished El Azhar
University's reputation, Eid said.
Despite the fact that not even Hind's lawyer has had access
to the DNA results, an article published in the daily
newspaper El Dustour on Aug. 14 stated that the report
pronounced that Mohamed Samy, was not the father of
Hind's baby daughter.
Saleh who refused to comment on the case to Daly News
Egypt, was recently reported saying that she had decided to
stop talking to the media.
Hind, however, is determined to tell her story.
"On the day, I had gone to pick up my brother from the
Khusus [the village she lives in] sports club, a diffident Hind
told the Daily News Egypt.
When she didn't find her brother she headed home. That
was when Mohamed Samy allegedly forced her to a building
under construction by threatening her with a knife.
"He opened the building's door and took me inside an
apartment and raped me on a wooden sofa, Hind said.
Before leaving her alone in the building, Hind said that
Samy threatened that if she told anyone, he would run her
over with his motorcycle because he knew her school and the
times she went there each morning.
A major flaw in Hind's case lies in the fact that she has
changed her testimony on the first and second time the
investigation was launched. The first time she was
questioned Hind said that four people had raped her not one.
"I agree that there was a contradiction in her testimony, but
we must keep into consideration her age as well as the
amount of fear and trauma she was feeling, Mohamed Saad,
Hind's attorney told Daily News Egypt.
Saad also attributes the change in her testimony to advice
given to her inside the police station.
"Sometimes people inside the police station give you advice
because they claim to know more about the law than you do.
They told her to accuse more than one person so if one
should go loose, it would ensure the perpetrator would be
punished, said Saad.
Saad added that the forensic report mentioned that the
pregnancy was a result of a single incident, where the sperm
entered the uterus without causing any damage to the
hymen.
"This finding indicates that the girl's second testimony is the
truth, Saad said.
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