Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Palestinian Father Locked Daughter in Bathroom for 9 Years

Challah Hu Akbar

CHALLAH @ WAFA

A father in the city of Qalqilia, northern West Bank, locked his daughter inside a bathroom in their house for nine years and had not allowed her to leave, a police statement said Saturday.

It said police went to a house in the city after they received information that a father was holding his daughter inside the bathroom.

When the police arrived at the house, they heard screams from inside the bathroom.

They forced the father to get the keys and open the door to find his daughter, whom police said seemed to be 20 years of age, inside along with a mattress and a blanket. The father, said the police, admitted to locking up his daughter in the bathroom since she was 11, first in Nabi Elias village and then in Qalqilya, following family differences.

Police arrested the father and handed the girl to social welfare staff.

Sadly, there have been a number of similar stories in recent months.

In December, Palestinian police found a mentally ill girl in Hebron, who had been locked up by her parents for years.

In August, CNN reported on the case of two mentally ill sisters, who were recently freed after being chained up by their parents for a decade.

Update: CHALLAH @ Ynet

The woman’s parents divorced several years ago and it would seem that the father prevented the mother from seeing her daughter. After the two broke up the father remarried and at that point imprisoned his daughter.

According to [Azat] Maluach [head of the Qalqilya welfare department] the father’s ‘new’ family was all aware of the fact that the daughter was imprisoned and yet no one reported anything to the authorities.

Update: Below is a photo of the girl who was just freed.

Update (Wednesday): Walla is reporting that the father of the girl threatened to get her pregnant. The girl was also given a razor blade and urged to kill herself. (h/t Avi Mayer)

No comments: