Missing 11-year-old found at juvenile detention centre

AMMAN — An 11-year-old boy, who went missing last Thursday evening in Tabarbour, was found on Monday at a juvenile centre in Madaba where underage beggars are referred, officials and family members said.

Yousef Mohammad left home and headed to a nearby mosque to perform evening prayers and never made it back to his house.

Social Development Ministry employees detained the boy on Thursday night “on charges of begging”, according to Mahmoud Tarawneh, the minister’s media adviser.

“Our employees detained the child after they saw him begging on a street in Tabarbour and referred him to a police station,” Tarawneh told The Jordan Times.

Mohammad was later referred to the Madaba Juvenile Centre, where “street beggars are sent”, according to the ministry official.

On Monday, an employee at the centre recognised the child from pictures published on social media and notified authorities and his family, Tarawneh said.

But the boy’s uncle, Maher Anabtawi, told The Jordan Times on Monday that Mohammad, who was released to his family, was not begging and was returning from the mosque after escorting his aunt to her house when he was “approached by a group of people”.

“The child did not know that they were ministry employees and thought they wanted to abduct him, so he was afraid and started running,” Anabtawi said.

He stressed that “Mohammad and his family are well-off and do not need to beg for money.” 

“We plan to file a lawsuit against the ministry because they caused us agony and pain and locked our son up for five days on begging charges although he was not begging and told them that when they detained him,” Anabtawi added.

The uncle also criticised police for “their lack of coordination since the child was detained briefly at the Hashemi police station while police forces were searching for him everywhere”.

Public Security Department Spokesperson Maj. Amer Sartawi would not elaborate on the matter.

“We were notified of the incident and had been searching for the child since Thursday; when we learnt that he was the missing child on Monday we notified his family about his whereabouts,” Sartawi said.