Following Fe-Male’s training on gender-sensitive investigative journalism in partnership with ABAAD and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Lebanon, Fe-Male supported the production of an investigative report tackling trafficking. Young journalist Jana Dheiby set out to investigate the case of a father who was forcing his three daughters to practice prostitution after raping them at a very young age. All rumors, news and theories, witnesses and evidence revolved around one idea that took three months to be verified: “The father harasses his daughters and trades their bodies”. Most of the neighbors would gossip about this “dirty” house where the father opened his door and offered his daughters as “sexual objects” in exchange for some bread or a kilogram of fruits and vegetables or even a small amount of money of barely 20 thousand Lebanese pounds.
One of the girls who was seeking help, and who was the main source of information for this report, was aged 17 years only on the time of conducting the report. Fe-Male provided all the technical, legal and financial support for Jana to be able to not only carry the investigation, but also to close the case in favor of the girls. Following the release of the investigative report on Fe-Male’s feminist platform Sharika Wa Laken, and due to the high reach of the website, the buzz the report made in the society led the Minister of Interior and Municipalities at that time, Raya El Hassan, to inform us that the Lebanese Internal Security Forces will interfere and handle the case. The father, later on, was jailed and the 17 years old girl was sent to a safe place with ensuring her return to school and her mother and sisters were also granted protection from the father’s abuse.
Full Investigative and follow up report in English: https://bit.ly/2SxH9OV
Full investigative report in Arabic: https://bit.ly/2Y4YkLw
Follow up article in Arabic: https://bit.ly/3cRf25b
