Egypt: Parents arrested for allegedly poisoning daughter
Couple purportedly chained, tortured the girl for spurring marriage offer
Cairo: Egyptian police arrested a man and his wife for allegedly poisoning a daughter to punish her for turning down a marriage offer, local newspapers reported.
Investigations revealed the man and the daughter’s stepmother, living in Egypt’s southern governorate of Qena, chained the 22-year-old girl, tortured and forced her to take a hair dyeing substance in an alleged attempt to kill her after she had spurned their suggestion to marry a relative of the stepmother.
The girl was transferred to a local hospital, displaying symptoms of poisoning purportedly after she was forced to take the toxic substance.
She survived the alleged poisoning attempt and is in hospital for treatment. The suspects are in remand pending interrogations.
Earlier this month, an Egyptian woman and her brother were arrested for allegedly killing her teen daughter and tossing her body from a fifth floor after the girl refused to wed a proposed suitor in the Cairo area of Al Basateen, according to local media.
Conservative families traditionally believe that the girl should have no say in choosing the husband-to-be.