Parliament passes law to punish parents who use kids in begging

Committee of Legal Affairs, Administration and freedoms at People’s National Council approved the punishment that have been proposed by the government, in the context of amending the Penal Code, relating to kidnapping or attempt to kidnap minors, through the adoption of life sentence on each person who tries to kidnap a minor under 18.

CLA agreed on the punishments that are meted out to those convicted of felonies and misdemeanors of buying or selling kids, and sexual exploitation, through applying penalties ranging from a year to 10 years and 20 years in the case of rape, as the same penalty is applied on those who lent a place to imprisonment or detaining the kidnapper, and the convicted will be sentenced to life imprisonment if the kidnapped kid will be exposed to physical torture, or if the motive is to pay a ransom. Life imprisonment could be applied on the kidnapper if imprisonment or confinement lasts for more than a month.

Legal Affairs Committee, brought amendments to the draft law, which amends and applied the Order No. 66/156 of 8 June,1966, contained in the Penal Code, as the preliminary report included several proposals related to the need to define the powers of the judge with respect to the crime of discrimination, and identify the type of crimes that governs the period of security, and not to apply the crime penalty of begging on both parents in the case of proving their difficult social situation, and punished them with six months to two years of imprisonment for using a minor in begging and expose him/her to danger.