A three-year-old girl was taken to a hospital in the city of Kirkuk with signs of severe beatings, burns, torture and fractures, and the security forces saved five children left by their parents in the street.
Tuesday Evening, April 12, 2022, a baby girl was transferred to Azadi Hospital in Kirkuk, with signs of fractures, burns and severe beatings on her body.
"The girl called (M. A. K.) was subjected to abuse and was in a deplorable condition when was admitted to the hospital," a medical source told KirkukNow, adding that an escort was with the girl in the hospital, but he took several photos of her and left the hospital hastily and then disappeared.
Our kids are our future, so if we abuse them, what a future to epxect for our kids, families and community?
The source anonymously pointed out that "the girl's stepmother practiced violence against the girl. She had signs of beating, burns and fractures, and she was also exposed to internal bleeding, so she was kept under intensive medical care."
Under Article 29 of the Iraqi constitution, all forms of violence and abuse in the family, school, and society are prohibited.
"Our kids are our future, so if we abuse them, what a future to epxect for our kids, families and community?" said Brigadier Genera Kawa Gharib, Kirkuk police chief, in a press conference.
Video: A press conference for Kirkuk Police Chief, Brigadier General Kawa Gharib, about the case of the child who was tortured
A security source on the condition of anonymity told KirkukNow that the girl's father works at a bakery in the Banja Ali neighborhood of the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, and he is a originally from Baghdad.
The Kirkuk Police Command opened an investigation file into the case and arrested the girl's father, according to Article 413 of the Iraqi Penal Code, according to a police statement.
This legal article sets a penalty of up to three years in prison for anyone who intentionally assaults another person by wounding, beating, or violently resulting in physical harm.
The Kirkuk police statement stated based on the recommendations of the Minister of Interior, all the treatment supplies for the child will be provided, and a security force will follow up on her until she recovers and her case is resolved.
Kirkuk, April 12, 2022: Kirkuk police chief visits the tortured 3-year-old kid at Azadi hospital. Media of Kirkuk Police Command
Article 41 of the Iraqi Penal Code gives teachers and parents the “right to discipline” minor children, provided that they do not go beyond what is legally prescribed, but the Iraqi Federal Court issued a statement in April 2019 stressing that the “right to discipline” does not mean the use of violence.
In a separate incident, the community police in Kirkuk on Tuesday, found five children abandoned at a street of Kirkuk, and the follow-up showed that they had been expelled from the house by their "mother".
Ghaleb al-Jubouri, the community police chief in Kirkuk, said, "We received information that there were five children from one family who were thrown by their mother in Hay al-Askari Street, so we picked them up and started looking for their families."
The parents of the five children live in separate homes due to "family disputes".
“An emergency police force found the father of the five children and they will be returned to him after he signs a pledge not to throw them in the street again,” al-Jubouri said.
The ages of the children range from 4 to 10 years.
One of these five children said, "Our mother took us to the street and asked us to go to our father to take care of us. She said I don't want to take care of you, so she threw us on the street and left us there."
He hinted that his other four brothers are younger than him.
Article 383 of the Iraqi Penal Code stipulates the penalty of imprisonment for anyone who leaves a child in a deserted place that exposes him to danger and starvation.
The Personal Status Law also states that children have the right to receive family care in a safe environment and an adequate standard of living.
Kirkuk's emergency police forces, in coordination with the community police, provided some supplies for the five children, including clothes and food, and the police command's statement indicated that these children will remain in the custody of the police until the problem of that family is resolved.
