(Cairo On 28/2/2024) Nasr City Misdemeanor Court issued its verdict in the case of the kidnapping of Hanin and the attempted kidnapping of Jana. The court sentenced the first perpetrator, the father, to one year and ordered him to pay a fine of 50,000 Egyptian pounds. The court also sentenced the second and third perpetrators, the father’s friend and his driver, to one year in prison with hard labor. The court based its ruling on the evidence presented by the Public Prosecution in the case, which in turn relied on the defective text of Article 292 of the Penal Code.
The court did not consider the defense’s request regarding the lack of jurisdiction of the Misdemeanor Court and that the competent court should be the Criminal Court under Article 290, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment for kidnapping. Especially since the crime of kidnapping, even if committed by the father with the assistance of a criminal gang, was associated with multiple acts of harm. Therefore, Ms. Nahed Abu Al-Komsan, the defense attorney for the victim, requested that the case be referred back to the prosecution to reconsider the adaptation of the incident to the crime of kidnapping punishable under Article 290 (Kidnapping) and Article 268 (indecent assault).
However, the court issued its verdict based on Article 292 of the Penal Code, which reduces the sentence if the kidnapper is a family member.
Based on the equal legal status of the perpetrators involved, the other members of the criminal gang benefited from the same status as the father, and the judgment was issued against them with one year of imprisonment with labor.
This confirms the absence of child rights and child protection mechanisms. This verdict will not enable the mother to regain custody of the child, Hanin, in the event of an appeal by the defendants and a potential reduction of the sentence by the appellate court.
As a result of the prosecution’s failure to investigate the criminal acts committed against the child, Jana, whom the criminal gang led by the father failed to kidnap, leaving her drugged and partially naked, the court did not conduct an investigation into the crimes committed against her, including drugging, indecent exposure, and leaving her unconscious in the street.
The events of the incident date back to December 13, 2023, when the first accused (the father) and the mother’s ex-husband kidnapped the 11-year-old child, Hanin, and attempted to kidnap the other child, 14-year-old Jana, with the assistance of the second and third accused. The court relied on the prosecution’s decision to refer the case based on the provisions of Article 292 of the Penal Code.
This article poses a real danger to the rights of children and contradicts the provisions of Article 80 of the Egyptian Constitution by allowing perpetrators to escape punishment simply because one of them is a parent, despite committing multiple acts of abuse. It equates an individual who takes a child on an outing and fails to return them to the mother with those who form a criminal gang and launch a surprise attack on their daughters, drugging them, kidnapping one, and leaving the other partially naked and unconscious by the roadside.
Therefore, ECWR demands:
- The Office of the Public Prosecutor to investigate the criminal acts that Jana, the child who the defendants failed to kidnap, was subjected to.
- The Egyptian Parliament to abolish Article 292 of the Penal Code.
- The Public Prosecution to take the necessary legal measures to ensure the return of the kidnapped child, Hanin.
