Today, Saturday, the first session of the trial of Hanaa Mohamed Hassan (37 years old), a housewife and divorcee, began before the Zagazig Criminal Court in Sharqiya Governorate, north of Cairo. She is charged with killing her five-year-old child, mutilating his body, removing flesh from the bones, cooking a part of it to eat, and hiding the rest of his remains inside her home in the village of "Shalabi," according to the newspaper "Okaz."
The accused surprised the court today by claiming that she had been subjected to witchcraft and sorcery by her ex-husband's family and several acquaintances, which they allegedly did to take her child away from her legally by labeling her as "mentally ill," leading her to commit her crime, as she described. The details of the case, which caused an uproar in public opinion in Egypt, date back to April 26 of last year, when the investigation authorities charged the mother with premeditated murder.
