Egyptian woman saved by police at Palermo airport after reporting years of violence suffered in Egypt

The alarm was raised to the police by her aunt who lives in France. Her niece from Ragusa, married to an Egyptian, had turned to her to ask for help in putting an end to the torture and violence suffered in the family. So when the couple arrived at Palermo airport, on the night between 29 and 30 August, the police, who were waiting for them, intervened. To be recognised, the woman made the conventional sign of asking for help: the four fingers of one hand closed. The man was identified and reported for mistreatment in the family and, for his reaction towards the officers, also for resisting a public official. The woman was taken to a safe house, while the man remained in Sicily trying to track down his wife and bring her back to Egypt. The Polaria operation was coordinated by the Palermo Prosecutor's Office.

Husband and wife had lived for a period between Palermo and Ragusa, then moved to Egypt where the woman was said to have suffered torture and violence. The man denied it, rejecting his wife's accusations with the police, but the woman was examined both by the airport doctor and at the Palermo Polyclinic hospital and the signs of violence emerged from the checks.

The victim was interviewed by the investigators, coordinated by the prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia and by the deputy of the Weak Groups department, Laura Vaccaro, in a protected environment in the presence of a psychologist. She was then taken to a secure facility.

The woman said she got married more than ten years ago and went to live in Cairo, where her nightmare began. Beaten for every mistake she made, she couldn't use the telephone, she was forced to go out only with her husband, she couldn't work and had no money, she was forced into sexual intercourse even against her will. This has been the case since at least 2017, the woman said. What convinced her to run away was her husband's decision to give her away as a wife to another man in exchange for money. The woman got a phone and asked an aunt who lives in France for help. He did it secretly using public or free wi-fi networks because he didn't have the money to buy top-ups. The aunt contacted the police who, coordinated by the Palermo Prosecutor's Office, triggered the operation at Falcone Borsellino airport. The Polaria officers had the names of the couple and it was the woman's gesture that triggered their intervention.