CAIRO: The story of eleven-year-old Hind, who gave birth after being raped, shocked the nation when it broke a few weeks ago. Further exacerbating the situation were the words of Al Azhar University's Islamic jurisprudence scholar, Souad Saleh, who issued a fatwa stating that the girl and her father deserved the punishment of "eighty flogs for defamation. Saleh's judgment came after a forensic DNA report had ruled out the possibility that the alleged rapist, 21 year old toktok driver, Mohamed Samy had committed the crime and is the father of the child. On the August 8 episode of the daily Channel 2 magazine show El Beit Beitak, Saleh said, in a phone-in to host Mohamed Saad that her fatwa was previously published in Rose Al Youssef magazine. Saleh also questioned the fact that Hind was 11 years old at the time of the rape, stating explicitly that she was 16. "That girl's statements are audacious, Saleh told Saad who "saluted her stance. "If this sort of thing goes unchecked, then any girl can accuse a man of rape and he would have to prove the opposite by getting a DNA test, Saad agreed with Saleh. "They should be flogged in public, said Souad on the show, in addition to accusing the girl's family of "blackmailing the alleged rapist and "bargaining with his daughter's honor. Saleh's controversial fatwa was criticized by a number of prominent journalists including Ibrahim Seada, of the state-run El Akhbar newspaper. In his Aug. 20 column, which Saleh responded to with another article in the same newspaper, Seada questioned whether Saleh would stand behind her fatwa if something so tragic had happened to her own grandchild. When the case became a public opinion issue, Hind and her family moved from Matariya to El Marg, where the government gave them a flat in one of the low-income housing projects, through the aid of the Qalyoubia governor and Egypt's First Lady. Hind's volunteer lawyer, Mohamed Saad recently filed a complaint against Saleh at the public prosecutor's office objecting to how her comments swayed public opinion against Hind. "How can you accuse a father of bargaining with their daughter's honor? Hind's father Mohamed Eid, told Daily News Egypt. Eid began the interview by presenting his daughter's birth certificate to disprove claims that she was 16 instead of 11 when she got pregnant, "she will be 12 years old on September 28, said Eid. He discovered his daughter's pregnancy in her fifth month. She kept silent about her rape for several months until she began complaining of stomach ache in early January 2007, when they found out that she was pregnant. Hind's family turned to the media after they learned that there was a chance the case her rapist might be dismissed. At which point the public prosecutor adopted the case and reopened the investigation. "I tried my best to be as wise as possible and to work within the channels of the law, Eid said. Despite public announcements to help Hind from organizations like the Higher Council for Childhood and Motherhood, according to the family no funding has reached them. The only NGO that helped Hind, according to Eid, was Downtown Cairo's Nadim Center, which is currently working on Hind's psychological rehabilitation and also providing much-needed baby supplies. "Souad Saleh has judged the plaintiffs and also passed the verdict of flogging on them, as if no one exists except her. In my opinion this woman's comments have tarnished El Azhar University's reputation, Eid said. Despite the fact that not even Hind's lawyer has had access to the DNA results, an article published in the daily newspaper El Dustour on Aug. 14 stated that the report pronounced that Mohamed Samy, was not the father of Hind's baby daughter. Saleh who refused to comment on the case to Daly News Egypt, was recently reported saying that she had decided to stop talking to the media. Hind, however, is determined to tell her story. "On the day, I had gone to pick up my brother from the Khusus [the village she lives in] sports club, a diffident Hind told the Daily News Egypt. When she didn't find her brother she headed home. That was when Mohamed Samy allegedly forced her to a building under construction by threatening her with a knife. "He opened the building's door and took me inside an apartment and raped me on a wooden sofa, Hind said. Before leaving her alone in the building, Hind said that Samy threatened that if she told anyone, he would run her over with his motorcycle because he knew her school and the times she went there each morning. A major flaw in Hind's case lies in the fact that she has changed her testimony on the first and second time the investigation was launched. The first time she was questioned Hind said that four people had raped her not one. "I agree that there was a contradiction in her testimony, but we must keep into consideration her age as well as the amount of fear and trauma she was feeling, Mohamed Saad, Hind's attorney told Daily News Egypt. Saad also attributes the change in her testimony to advice given to her inside the police station. "Sometimes people inside the police station give you advice because they claim to know more about the law than you do. They told her to accuse more than one person so if one should go loose, it would ensure the perpetrator would be punished, said Saad. Saad added that the forensic report mentioned that the pregnancy was a result of a single incident, where the sperm entered the uterus without causing any damage to the hymen. "This finding indicates that the girl's second testimony is the truth, Saad said.
