Egypt Orphanage Video 'Brutality' Triggers Outrage

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A video showing the manager of an orphanage in Egypt beating children in his care has provoked outrage in Egyptian media.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has intervened and the manager has now been arrested.

The video shows children aged between four and seven crying as the manager beats them with a wooden stick.

The manager's wife told Egyptian TV she shot the video a year ago as she "could not remain silent any more".

"He beats everyone, even me and our kids," she said.

In the video, the man is apparently punishing the children for turning on the television and opening the refrigerator without permission.

The video appeared on social media on Sunday. Within a day, it was was viewed more than 20,000 times on YouTube and gained more than 85,000 shares on Facebook.

The orphans have now been transferred to another orphanage, an activist with the handle @GhadaEgyptologist tweeted: "The kids are so happy, as if they just got freed from a prison".

The governor of Giza province has also dissolved the orphanage's board of directors, according to state-owned Nile News TV.

Mainstream press and TV channels also criticised the owner of the orphanage and called for him to be punished.

"With video and pictures: The manager of an orphanage abandons his humanity and tortures kids for watching TV," said a headline on Al-Watan's news website.

Abuse of children in orphanages in Egypt is well-documented, although rarely reported in the media.

The children's right group FACE, which assists orphans and street children in Egypt, says the orphanages' work is hampered by a lack of funding and poor staff training.


"BBC Africa"