CAIRO: Minister of Family and Population Moshira Khattab filed a case to the general attorney against a father who has been protesting along with his three children in front of the People’s Assembly (PA) for 33 consecutive days.
Khattab is accusing Raafat Mostafa of endangering his children and of instilling sentiments of hatred and intolerance, according to state news portal egynew.net.
Mostafa, who is protesting a school decision that denied his daughter Farah enrollment in a primary school on the basis that she is too young, will be subject to questioning by the general attorney.
“If I am breaking the law then she should have said something from the beginning. I sent her a complaint two months ago and got no response,” Mostafa told Daily News Egypt.
In a telephone interception during Tuesday’s episode of satellite TV program “90 Minutes,” Khattab said that by subjecting his children to long hours in the heat Mostafa is breaching the law.
“Why me? There are a lot of people who are protesting with their kids…. in front of the PA and in front of the Ministry of Agriculture,” said Mostafa, adding that his children, aged eight and a half, six and a half and five years old, are all happy to stand by him.
“They feel that they are getting back their rights.”
In addition, Mostafa is protesting what he claims are acts of nepotism at Al-Gomhuria Primary School in Shubra. He said that the school accepted two students who are two months younger than his daughter.
He explained that when his daughter applied to KG 1 in 2007 she was denied enrollment. She was then allowed to join in 2008.
Although she has received only one year at the KG level, Farah, now six and a half years old, meets the legal age of enrolling in primary one, according to Mostafa.
When contacted by Daily News Egypt on Wednesday, Mostafa was not at the PA because he had to take one of his sons to the doctor.
“As soon as my son gets better, I’m going back there,” he said.
Mostafa and his kids have been carrying signs reading: “With our heart and blood… Education is more important” and “No matter what we do, we will bring down nepotism.”
Khattab warned of harsher measures if Mostafa continued his protest.
On the show Tuesday, Mostafa said that his aim was not to grab the media’s attention. He also said that he has repeatedly tried to seek a solution to his problem through official means but to no avail.
“Meeting Azrael is easier than meeting an Egyptian official,” he was quoted as saying.
