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Last update - 11:52 19/07/2009
Jerusalem court convicts 'Taliban mother' of child abuse
By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel news 

The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday convicted an ultra-Orthodox woman of severe child abuse and aggravated assault.

The mother of 12, from the town of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, was charged in April 2008 on suspicion of beating her children with belts, sticks and electric wire.

According to the indictment, she also tied up one of her children, stomped on another's feet, cut one of her daughter's hair as punishment and stubbed a burning march on another's chest.
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She was also suspected of forcibly waking her children by splashing cold water on them and of habitually locking them out of the house.

The woman's husband was convicted of assisting the abuse and of neglecting to report it to police. Her 27-year-old son is still under investigation for allegedly sexually abusing his sisters.

The police investigation began in early February 2008, after neighbors reported hearing a child crying for help and seeing objects being thrown at him. The responding officers were forced to wait outside the apartment for two hours because the mother refused to let them in. Only rabbinical intervention enabled the entry of the police.

The woman, who belongs to a sect in Beit Shemesh which wears black full-body covering as a sign of their religious modesty, has been connoted in the media as "the Taliban mother."

Her defense attorney said during the indictment proceedings last year that she had suffered "psychological disability and the welfare services provided no help."

Meanwhile, the Knesset is planning to hold a special session on the Jerusalem riots sparked by the arrest of another ultra-Orthodox woman accused of starving her three-year-old son.


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      1.   What time do the riots begin 12:59  |  SJ 19/07/09
      2.   Are you kidding?? 13:23  |  JIG 19/07/09
      3.   12 kids..does she live in a big shoe? 13:42  |  had enough 19/07/09
      4.   Haaretz needs a map 14:11  |  mb 19/07/09
      5.   Added colour 15:21  |  Danny 19/07/09
      6.   An interesting title 18:33  |  AT 19/07/09
      7.   Scorn media, not people 18:33  |  Michoel@Chareidio 19/07/09
      8.   To mb #4 19:03  |  Luisa 19/07/09
      9.   More colour 19:08  |  Sammy 19/07/09
      10.   A Sick Closed Society 19:49  |  John Q. Public 19/07/09
      11.   Stop calling them ultra-Orthodox 20:25  |  AN 19/07/09
      12.   There is only one known communicable form 21:46  |  Mark Lincoln 19/07/09
      13.   `Taliban mother` 06:51  |  marion 20/07/09
      14.   Not much difference between.... 16:33  |  Silvienne 20/07/09
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