Ignoring the taboos and sounding the alarm on the seriousness of child abuse, pathologist Hani Jahshan on Sunday confronted children's rights activists with graphic and chilling photographs depicting some of the worst cases of child abuse in Jordan. Cautioning the viewers, a group of regional scholars meeting here to examine the scope and magnitude of child abuse in the Arab world, Jahshan highlighted the forms and consequences of child abuse and cited actual examples of emotional, physical and sexual abuse suffered by hundreds of Jordanian children.
Child abuse is as common here as it is in other countries outside the Arab world.
Pictures of children whose faces and bodies were severely or permanently disfigured by physical abuse, drew grave concern from the audience who commended Jordan for bringing to light such issues that have long been hidden from the public. Jahshan continued, showing photos of children who were raped and others whose genitals were mutilated. One case was of a young boy who had been abused by a family member who severed the child's penis. Another photo showed a girl whose body was completely covered with scars as a result of sadistic sexual abuse. Other cases of abuse and neglect included one young boy whose step-mother sometimes forced him to wear wet clothes and eat his own excrement.