Cairo court hears appeal in 12-year-old child kidnapping case

The Cairo Appellate Criminal Court is reviewing the appeal of a woman sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnapping and exploitation of a young girl named Nada. The crime dates back to 2014, when the defendant, a cleaning worker, abducted the seven-year-old child from the Al-Zahir area in Cairo.

To conceal the crime, the defendant forged official documents to falsely claim the child as her own daughter and even produced a fake death certificate for her husband. This allowed her to present the child as an orphan to solicit money from citizens and charitable organizations through forced begging. The victim was also subjected to physical abuse and deprived of education.

The case was resolved after social media attention prompted a police investigation. Authorities used DNA testing to confirm the child's true identity, eventually reuniting her with her biological parents.