Egypt: Couple arrested after offering their daughter for sale

A married couple were arrested in Egypt a few months ago after security services discovered that they were offering their infant daughter for sale, just days after her birth, local media reported recently.

According to the details of the case, the father created an account on social media and offered his infant daughter for sale for 150,000 Egyptian pounds ($4,870), but the security services monitored the activity on his page and arrested him as soon as he agreed to meet with a customer.

The parents appeared before the Cairo Criminal Court where the girl’s mother admitted that she had agreed to make the sacrifice and give up her daughter, but she claimed that she had no knowledge that her husband had planned to sell their daughter, believing that he was giving her away.

She added, according to the news site Cairo24: “I had no idea that there was money involved. I thought we would be gifting her to someone to take care of her, like an orphanage, but I didn’t know that whoever was taking the child would be paying us.”

The judiciary charged the parents with human trafficking, which is punishable with hard labour, and a fine of no less than 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,600) and no more than 200,000 ($6,470).

OPINION: Sisi and International Women’s Day