Orphan Boy Tortured To Death By Slaughter House Owners For Demanding Wages

A 14-year-old orphan boy has been tortured to death by the owners of a slaughterhouse where he was working. His employers were upset because he asked them to pay him his daily wage of $3.8.

Police said Saleh Tamer Ali was beaten and burned to death at the slaughterhouse in the Sharqia Governorate in Egypt, Gulf News reported. Two suspects have been arrested, while a search is on to nab two others, including the main suspect. The boy had been working at the poultry slaughterhouse for seven months.

Police said the slaughterhouse owners were enraged after Saleh approached them asking for his daily wage of 50 Egyptian pounds ($3.8). Saleh reportedly told the owners that he could no longer work there as he was being harassed and forced to work without rest.

The three owners and another worker then started assaulting Saleh. When the child collapsed, they took him to a nearby clinic. Health workers told them the child had fallen into a coma and should be moved to another hospital.

He was taken to Al Saadin Central Hospital but was declared dead on arrival. The doctor who attended to him grew suspicious after noticing bruises on the child's body, hinting at torture, and alerted the police.

It is not clear when the incident happened.

The forensic report revealed that the boy suffered from burns and bruises on different parts of his body, the report said, quoting a local Egyptian newspaper.

The owners of the slaughterhouse initially told investigators that they found Saleh lying in front of the facility and had nothing to do with the crime. One of the two men who brought Saleh to the hospital was arrested immediately, while the other fled.

Saleh's relatives said they have filed a report accusing the three owners of the slaughterhouse of killing the boy.

"I went to the morgue to recognize the body, which bore burn and bruises marks. We learned later from the forensic doctor that the burn marks on his body were just a couple of hours old. He was bruised because of the beating, meaning the child was subjected to torture and burned just two hours ago," said Abdulmajeed Ali, Saleh's relative.

"It was said that the child was asking for his daily wages, so they beat him, which caused his death," Abdulmajeed added.

He said Saleh was an orphan and his father died seven years ago. He was living with his aunts and uncles.