Amal Mohamed Ali Hassan tells of how she and her two children live in a small room with her parents and six brothers. My suffering started since the death of my husband, Mahrous Mohamed El-Gamiya, in December 2006, says Hassan. "He did not have a source of income for me and the two children, Nora, 4, and Said, 3. "I was living with him in an apartment in his family s house in Al-Khosous, Qalyubiya. A few days after my husband s death my father-in-law asked me to spend some days with my father under the pretext that I was in a bad psychological state and I needed some rest. So I agreed and went to my father s, she said. She continued: I lived with my father for two weeks, then I decided to go back because the few pounds my father earns can hardly cover my brothers expenses. Upon my return my brothers-in-law prevented me and my children from entering the apartment and therefore I went back to my parents place. Finding herself barred from her own home, Hassan decided to take legal action, and subsequently obtained a court order permitting her to return to her apartment. Accompanied by a court server and police officer, she was taken back to her home, where she says her father-in-law made a show of welcoming her back. "But as I expected, once the server and the police officer left my brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law came to my apartment and knocked the stuffing out of myself and my mother, who happened to be there, she said. "They threw me and my mother and the two children into the street, and when my father rushed to the Al-Khosous Police Station the officer told him: We have implemented the ruling and we are not responsible any more. I want nothing except the right of my two orphans. I want nothing for myself. How can I live with my children homeless or without any source of income enabling me to face the hardships of life? "Does the role of the al-Khosous chief investigator end after taking me to my house to implement the ruling? Why did not he make my brothers-in-law sign a pledge not to harass me again? She says she has been let down by the legal authorities, not least the police, forced now to reside in a tiny room in her father's house in Hadayek El-Kobaa. "I call on the Minister of Justice, Counselor Mahmoud Abdel Fatah, to reinvestigate my case for the sake of the two children, she says, "and I call on the Interior Minister to order his men to protect my children and restore my lost rights.
