Children pick olives during the harvest season in Rmeish, in southern Lebanon, on Oct. 23, 2024, while smoke from a nearby bomb fills the sky. (Credit: Vincenzo Circosta/AFP)
The South Intelligence Unit shut down a nursery in the town of Rmeish (Bint Jbeil district) with a red wax seal, following an order from the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Nabatieh, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Friday.
This followed several mothers filing complaints claiming that their children were subjected to abuse, beatings and food theft at the nursery. The closure was announced after an investigation during which the nursery's person in charge admitted to the charges against her, NNA reported.
In this context, one of the mothers appealed to the relevant authorities to "provide protection for her and her family," confirming that she has been subjected to threats and blackmail by relatives of the nursery owner, some of whom work in a security agency, NNA reported.
In July 2023, leaked videos of horrific child abuse at the Garderêve Day Care in Lebanon shocked the parents of the children enrolled, the broader public in Lebanon and sparked widespread outrage. The footage showed employees force-feeding infants, beating them and laughing while children cried in the background. The Health Ministry immediately shut down the facility.
Mount Lebanon's chief prosecutor at the time, Judge Ghada Aoun, quickly filed charges after the videos emerged. The employee who was recorded abusing the children was charged with attempted murder, and the nursery owner with complicity.
