CAIRO: A woman who discussed underage marriage between Egyptian minors and men from the Gulf on an Egyptian satellite TV channel was detained by the police and held for four days.
Sabah Khalil Eid was eventually released on Jan. 27 2010.
The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said in a statement released Thursday that Eid appeared on Dream TV show “Wahed men El-Nas (One of the People) and denounced the practice of marriage between female minors and “old, rich, Gulf men.
The practice – commonly known as “summer marriages – is widely condemned by Egyptian rights groups who say that the unions – often carried out without the consent of the girl involved, and which in many cases ends with her being abandoned by her spouse – is a form of prostitution. ANHRI refers to it as human trafficking.
According to the rights group, Eid, a member of a community development association in Tamoh, Giza, gave the example of a 13-year-old forced into such a marriage by her parents.
“Right after the show some villagers filed a complaint against Eid accusing her of defamation. She was ordered released. after the prosecution realized the truth of what she said on air, the ANHRI statement reads.
ANHRI says that the release order was ignored for four days by police officers at the Abu El-Nomros police station in a “revenge-driven abuse of power.
“This is a crime of illegal and arbitrary detention, ANHRI’s Ahmed Omar is quoted as saying in the press statement.
“Just as we call on the public prosecution office to launch wide-ranging investigations into mafia which organizes marriages between minors and rich Arabs, we call on the Interior Ministry to launch a fair and transparent investigation into the illegal detention of Sabah Khalil Eid at the Abu El-Nomros police station. -Daily News Egypt
