Couple Indicted for Imprisoning Daughter for 10 Years
Published at
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(TEL AVIV) — A couple living in the West Bank has been indicted for keeping the husband’s daughter locked up in small dark rooms for 10 years.
The State Attorney’s office in the Israeli town of Petah Tikva filed charges Tuesday against the couple, both Israeli-Arabs, for allegedly locking up the now 22-year-old woman since she was 11, abusing her and encouraging her to kill herself.
The indictment said that the young woman, Baraa Melhem, was forced to sleep on blankets with no mattress and was only allowed out of confinement to help with cooking and cleaning.
Melhem was discovered in “deplorable conditions” in the house’s tiny bathroom by Palestinian Authority forces on Jan. 21 in the West Bank town of Qalqiliya after her aunt notified police. They handed the couple over to the Israeli authorities because the suspects are Israeli citizens.
Melhem’s parents divorced when she was 4 and the father, Hassan Melhem, received custody. The stepmother was not publicly identified.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio