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'Taliban mom' in court
Photo: Gil Yohanan

Children of 'Taliban mom' turn to Red Cross for help

Kids of Beit Shemesh woman convicted of abuse urge international humanitarian group to work towards improving her 'appalling' confinement conditions; say her basic rights being violated

The 12 children of a Beit Shemesh woman known as "Taliban mom" have turned to the Red Cross in what they said was a desperate attempt to improve the conditions of her confinement.

 

The woman, who was convicted of severely abusing six of her 12 children, is being held in seclusion at the Neve Tirza women's prison for fear other inmates may harm her. In a petition filed with the Supreme Court Thursday, she claimed she was being held in a tiny cell with no ventilation and that the cell walls reek. She also claimed that she is forced to wash her own clothes, since the prison will not provide her with the service.

 

Her children are now asking the international humanitarian organization work towards improving her "appalling" confinement conditions. In two separate letters addressed to Marc Linning, head of the Red Cross' prisoners division, the family's attorney claimed that the mother was suffering from contusions all over her body but refuses to be examined by a physician for reasons of "modesty."

 

Attorney Zeri Hazan, who drafted the letters on the children's behalf, said the mother's cell is filthy and that she remains handcuffed during visits despite not being considered violent or suicidal.

 

"We ask that your organization save a woman who is being held under conditions of starvation and filth while her basic human rights are being violated," the letters read.

 

In the letters, the attorney stressed that the children have claimed since the beginning of the affair that the abuse was due to their mother's mental illness.

 

The woman was convicted of multiple counts of aggravated assault and abuse of a minor. Her husband was convicted of abuse and failure to report abuse to the authorities.

 

Her sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place in a week-and-a-half.

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.27.09, 15:12
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