Maadi outrage

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In Yehia El-Roubi Street, one of the poorest districts of the Cairo suburb of Maadi, the community was overwhelmed with outrage and anger as the news spread about the alleged "horrific crime" in the Norhan nursery. Three parents have reported to police that the nursery's owner, Ismail Mohamed, and two teachers had raped their sons. Investigators believe that other children have been subjected to the same fate, but their parents either feel too ashamed to report it to the police or are unsure whether their children were molested or not and are deciding whether to put their children through a medical examination process.

The nursery, which accepted children from three months to five years of age, had more than 35 boys and girls enrolled. The teachers accused of involvement -- Ayman El- Basha and Essam Imam -- were not employed at the nursery, but had rented one of the nursery's rooms to give private lessons to high school students.

On Monday, a day after the alleged crime was exposed in the press, the nursery was closed and guarded by policemen. An angry crowd gathered around it, leaving security officers concerned about the possibility of a violent reaction.

"A month ago, when my son first went to this nursery he used to eagerly go to it. But his happiness didn't last long and he began to hate the nursery and refuse to go. I still made him go, at times by rewarding him and others by forcing him," said the first parent who reported allegations to the police.

"On 1 April, he totally refused to go to the nursery and cried 'beat me father, even kill me, I still will not go.' I then asked his mother to try to find out what was wrong with him," he said. To her horror, the five-year-old boy told his mother that every day Ustaz Ismail, Ayman and Essam took him to an empty classroom, stripped naked, and took off his clothes before doing "nasty" things to him. After they were done, the boy told his mother, the men would beat him and threaten to kill him and his parents if he ever spoke about what happened.

The mother said she was in disbelief and "screamed and shouted hysterically until we took him to a doctor who confirmed his story." At the doctor's office, the son cried hysterically when the doctor asked him to take off his trousers for the examination. "It took us a long time to convince the child to let the doctor do his job."

However, not all parents were daring enough to go to police upon discovering of the molestation or rape of their children. Another two-year- old boy had pain when going to the bathroom. "We didn't know why. He also used to cry and beg us not to take him to the nursery. Now, after another family had reported the crime, we took our child to the doctor, who told us that he needs surgery." However, the boy's parents did not file a complaint because "we are afraid of the future. What is he going to do when he grows up? People will taunt him and tell him that he is not a man. It is a matter of honour," the mother told Al-Ahram Weekly.

In another case, it was the father who refused to report the crime and threatened to divorce his wife if she did. She cried and told the Weekly, "These are kids. They think what happened to them is part of learning -- like learning other educational material in the nursery. Their first experience with education is one of fear and horror."

One of the doctors who examined some of the victimised children and asked that his name not be revealed told the Weekly that one of the children needs surgery but his family is still not reporting the alleged crime to the police. "He needs medical and psychological help," added the doctor.

The problem extends to other children who formerly attended the nursery during its four years of operation. "My son went to this nursery for two years. He used to hate it. He used to cry everyday and beg me not to take him. At that time, I didn't understand why," said one father. "Now, he is in school and whenever the teacher closes the door so that students can concentrate, he cries hysterically and screams to leave the door open." He took his son to a doctor, who said that the boy had been raped.

Sami Abdel-Gawad, a lawyer who volunteered his services for the case, told the Weekly that he is going to ask for a compensation of five million pounds for each child and imprisonment for life for the culprits.

Other lawyers from non- governmental organisations have started a campaign to convince parents to file cases against the teachers who molested their children. They are also trying to convince them to accept medical and psychological assistance. Hani Hillal from the Egyptian Centre for the Rights of the Child believes that the government should cooperate more closely with NGOs to monitor nurseries and organisations for the handicapped to prevent human rights violations there.

Although he is still outraged, the first parent to report the crime feels that justice is being done. When he went to the police, "My son saw the policemen roughly treating those beasts in front of him. Now he knows that he has nothing to be scared of. They are criminals and they are going to be tormented the way they tormented him."