The Colombian Foreign Ministry said that it helped a Colombian wife, 39, her 19-year old son, and her parents, 67 and 71, leave Egypt after having been physically and emotionally assaulted by her Egyptian husband for five years.
The ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the husband also refused to provide for the family when the wife asked for separation.
The statement added that the family looked frail when it was received at El Dorado Airport in Bogota by a delegation from the Foreign Ministry’s department of helping citizens and a team from the International Red Cross.
The wife said that she was acquainted with her husband via the Internet. “I had a feeling he would bury us all there,” she said, adding that cultural and religious differences made it impossible for them to live together.
“It seems that spousal abuse is normal for an Egyptian husband,” she said. “He used to lock my parents up in a room without food or TV.”
“I decided not to live with him anymore when he assaulted my son,” she said, adding that he warned her not to contact the Colombian Consulate in Cairo.
“I am grateful to the Consulate for saving us,” she said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
