Egyptian family tells Al Arabiya of their desperate search for missing daughter

Six years ago, on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, a little girl named Salma Ahmed Mustafa Mohammed was playing in the garden of her family's home in May 15city, south of the Egyptian capital of Cairo. That was the last any person has seen of her before she completely disappeared.

One witness said that she saw Salma walking with a young man wearing a headdress. The witness said that the little girl was walking with him quietly and seemed to know him, that she was not strange to her family. Another witness said that she saw the young man hand her over to a woman who looked like she was her in mid-40s in a nearby area and that Salman was screaming that she wanted her mother.

The young girl completely disappeared after that with no trace or clues leading to her presence. Even her mother, who was still grieving a year later, was surprised by a phone call from someone telling her that her daughter lived with a wealthy Egyptian family living in an Arab country and that she would not return to her.

Salma’s family continued their desperate search and informed security authorities, and doubts were raised about a person who frequented the family's home and engaged in a discussion in their new apartment, especially with the appearance of signs of affluence on him, which reinforced the family's doubts about receiving a large sum in exchange for kidnapping and selling the girl.

Egyptian security services said they arrested one suspect but soon released him due to lack of evidence.

During those years, the family did not despair, and kept all the doors open in their search for their daughter. Every year, members of the family stand on the highway near their house, handing out meals to the fasting people, with pictures of Salma in the hope that someone would recognize her.

Ahmed Mustafa Mohammed, Salma’s father, told Al Arabiya that he works as a teacher and that he has never lost hope of finding his daughter. Even after all these years, he said he has hope despite his daughter’s features might have changed by this time. The last they saw Salman, she was five-years-old and six years later she is now ten.

He added that many people and businessmen sympathized with Salma’s case, and allocated huge sums to those who could help in providing any information; the rewards so far have amounted to four million Egyptian pounds and a Mercedes car.

The child's father says he distributes breakfasts during the holy month of Ramadan every year to fasting people and passers-by on the motorway, with a peaceful picture and family telephone numbers, so that someone can recognize them and guide them to information that leads them to reach them. In Egypt and in one of its provinces, and was calling his wife and inform her that the girl with an Egyptian family in one of the Arab countries to camouflage and disinformation.

Salma's father confirms that his daughter is still living among them as if she were completely present. Her seat on the family table is still there while her bed and all her belongings still remain.

“I miss my daughter greatly. I could sometimes hear her voice in my ears, as if she was calling to me, my hope in God is great, and I take the story of Jacob and his son Joseph as example, God may return my daughter and reward me for my patience and satisfaction with his judgment,” he told Al Arabiya.