The story of "Mahfoud ولد مامون," a child with special needs, has shocked Mauritanians after he was found murdered following a sexual assault, with the identities of the criminals still unknown. The child, who suffered from a chronic disability since birth, disappeared near his family home on Saturday. After hours of searching, he was discovered in an abandoned house in the "Ambarak and Omar" district of the city of Atar in the Adrar region, and was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
The medical report revealed signs of torture and trauma to the head and neck, and indicated that the victim had suffered a brutal sexual assault that led to his death. According to a video circulating on social media, a surveillance camera captured the child walking in one of the streets before being approached by an individual who lured him into an abandoned building.
This incident has caused outrage among Mauritanians on social media, where they expressed their anger over the authorities' delay in identifying the perpetrators, demanding justice for the child and the harshest penalties for the offender. In the city of Atar, an angry march took place during the child's funeral, during which attendees raised slogans calling for an urgent identification of the perpetrator and for solutions to the phenomenon of abandoned houses in the city's neighborhoods that have turned into places for suspicious activities.
In response, the Minister of Social Affairs, Childhood, and Family, Safiya Bint Intah, requested from the local authorities in Adrar on Monday to make every effort to apprehend the perpetrator as quickly as possible and to expedite investigations to uncover the circumstances of the crime.
