Not a few days passed since the ruling regime in Egypt was concerned with the issue of "terrorizing" a little girl by her parents, until that regime returned to show its ugly face by arresting dozens of children, in a continuation of the horrific violations that affected thousands of children that began since the military coup in 2013 and have not ended until today.

The beginning of the story was through a video clip published by content maker (YouTuber) Ahmed Hassan and his wife Zainab while performing a "backhand" on their young daughter Eileen, causing her panic, and was widely criticized on the communication sites.

However, what was surprising was the unprecedented interest of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (governmental) and the Ministry of Solidarity and their submission of official communications against the two spouses demanding their punishment, while the media affiliated to the authority refused to denounce the intimidation of the little girl.

The Public Prosecution did not delay in responding to the complaints and ordered the arrest of Ahmed and Zainab and charged them with human trafficking charges (punishable by life imprisonment) and endangering the life of a child.

False Mercy

The interest of the authority and its institutions and its media about the girl child raised great question marks, especially since the ruling regime’s record is full of widespread violations against thousands of children, with the support and instigation of the pro-government media, and the deafening silence of official child rights institutions and legal authorities.

Observers interpreted the authorities ’interest as an attempt to beautify the deteriorating rights record of children in Egypt, as well as to exploit the issue to distract public opinion from the September 20 demonstrations that were being called, in protest against the deterioration of living conditions and the demolition of citizens’ homes.

As soon as 20 September came and protests began in several governorates calling for the departure of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the regime dispersed itself from manifestations of false mercy for children, and began arresting dozens of them in connection with the demonstrations.

The Belady Center for Rights and Freedoms documented the arrest of 39 children, aged 11-17 years, and interrogation with the Supreme State Security Prosecution, against the backdrop of the September protests.

On Sunday, the Human Rights Center said that the prosecution issued decisions to imprison all children in connection with Case No. 880 of 2020 Limiting the Security of a Supreme State, with the exception of two children from Nuba, which the prosecution ordered to hand them over to their families, after parents vowed to escalate if they were not released.

Later, it became clear that the number of children arrested was much more than what human rights organizations were able to document, after the Public Prosecution announced the release of 68 children arrested in the recent events, without clarifying whether there were more children in detention in connection with this case.

Horrific violations

The Sisi regime's record since the coup is full of a long list of horrific violations against Egypt's children, including killings, torture, sexual assaults, enforced disappearances, military trials, long-year prison terms and even death sentences documented by dozens of independent international and local human rights reports.

Last March, Human Rights Watch and the human rights organization “My Country - Island of Humanity” issued a report denouncing the enforced disappearance and acts of torture against minors by the Egyptian security forces, and the prosecution and judges turned a blind eye to the case.

The report documented the tragedy of 20 children who were arrested, forcibly disappeared, and tortured, and were sentenced to prison terms. The youngest of them was the Sinai child, Abdullah Boumediene, who was not more than 12 years old, when he fell victim to a 6-month enforced disappearance in North Sinai, despite his right hand disability and sensitivity. Chronic chest.

On November 20, 2019, 3 Egyptian organizations monitored the arrest of about 4 thousand children since the military coup in 2013 and until 2019.

In April 2019, the Biladi Center for Rights and Freedoms issued a report monitoring 4,130 violations of Egypt's children due to political background and societal movement, including 198 cases of enforced disappearance and 71 cases of torture, including 3 cases that led to death.

And a report by the United Nations arbitrary detention team in July 2015 confirmed that the detention of children in Egypt is systematic and widespread, and that the number of children arrested in Egypt from June 30 2013 until the end of May 2015 reached more than 3,000 children under the age of 18 years old, most of them were subjected to torture and severe beatings inside various detention centers.

In November 2014, the Egyptian Observatory for Rights and Freedoms documented the killing of children in cold blood and the torture of hundreds of them, in addition to dozens of sexual assaults against detained children.


The Observatory said at the time that these crimes intensified after Sisi took office, as 12 children were killed by live bullets during the first 100 days of his rule, 144 children were arrested, 72 children were tortured in detention facilities, and 26 children were subjected to sexual assault.

Comic issues

Many children were charged with comical accusations that were ridiculed by the world, the most famous of which was the use of a ruler with the Rabaa logo (referring to the Ansar al-Sharia sit-in in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square), or carrying a yellow balloon bearing the same logo. Way.

Underage children were sentenced to death and imprisonment, in clear violation of the Child Law, the Egyptian Constitution and international treaties.

Unforgettable scenes:


“Wake up, Mama, O Mama, Wake up to God.” With these words, the child Ramadan Ibrahim shouted in panic and tears streaming down, trying to wake up his mother, who was lying on the ground in the field hospital, at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in.

The child Ramadan was not aware that his mother was shot dead by security forces during the sit-in massacre on August 14, 2013, which Human Rights Watch described as "the worst mass killing of protesters in recent history."

The scene of Ramadan was not erased from memory, such as the massacre in which hundreds of people were killed, among them dozens of children.

According to data from the Biladi Center for Rights and Freedoms, the security forces killed 29 children in the dispersal of the Rab'a sit-in, including a child whose body was found completely burned, while 6 children were killed by a gunshot to the head, and 22 others were shot in the chest.

Crimes without count

The child Ramadan, who escaped death in Rab'a, is one of thousands of children who have undergone a bitter experience by the martyrdom of their mothers and fathers or their arrest in front of their eyes, and preventing them from visiting and communicating with them.

Unlike the daughter of the famous YouTuber, these children do not receive any psychological care, attention or rehabilitation on the part of the state - which is legally bound to do so - or from official child protection institutions, in addition to the absence of any legal action to punish those involved in these massacres and legal violations, and ignoring reports about torture. Enforced disappearance and medical neglect in prisons.

The burden of the tragedy of these children is exacerbated by what the regime's trumpets are spreading in the media in terms of sympathy, incitement and encouragement for such violations!