Lynn Taleb's mother's side of the family's residence in Minieh, Tripoli, north Lebanon. (Credit: Mohammed Yassin/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The first investigating judge in North Lebanon, Samranda Nassar, issued two arrest warrants for the mother and grandfather of Lynn Taleb on Thursday, a senior judicial confirmed to L’Orient Today.
Taleb was a 5-year-old girl who died in early July after repeated sexual assault.
Taleb's mother, Waad Bou Khalil, was detained first shortly after her death. On July 17, Taleb's maternal grandfather, Fawaz Bou Khalil, was also detained at the police station in Hobeich. Her mother was later charged with attempting to cover up the crime.
Taleb suffered internal bleeding, which led to her death eight days after a stay with her mother at her grandfather’s house in Minieh, North Lebanon. The visit was during the Eid al-Adha holiday, when the attacks are alleged to have taken place.
Two separate forensic doctors’ reports confirmed that Taleb had been repeatedly raped prior to her death.
In recent months, violence against children has been on the rise in Lebanon.
Last week, the Village de paix et d'amour association, meant to care for children in danger or abandoned by their parents, was closed over alleged sexual abuse and other crimes by staff members.
In mid-July, an arrest warrant was issued for the owner and an employee of the Garderêve daycare center in Jdeideh, Metn, after videos surfaced of the employee repeatedly striking children.
On July 18, an infant was found abandoned in a bag on a street in Tripoli. Just one day later, two babies — aged three months and one year — were found abandoned in a box under a bridge near Nahr Ibrahim in the Jbeil area.