EGYPT: 500 VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE SINCE 2011

Cairo, 12 Sha’ban 1435/11 June 2014 (MINA) – At least 500 Egyptians have been victims of sexual violence since February 2011 and until January 2014, a group of civil society organisations said.

Twenty-five civil society organisations condemned the latest wave of sexual assault in Tahrir Square in a joint statement released on Monday, Daily News Egypt quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The organisations reported at least nine cases of sexual assault in Tahrir Square on Sunday as people flocked to the iconic square to celebrate the inauguration of former army general Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, a year after he announced Mohamed Morsi’s ouster as first freely elected president in Egypt.

The alleged rape of a woman in Tahrir Square has not yet been verified. However, a video circulated online Sunday evening of a naked woman with apparent bruises on her body being escorted to an ambulance by a group of men, including a police officer.

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Both accounts of sexual assault took place during celebrations to mark the presidential victory and inauguration of Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, the former army chief who won the 26-28 election by a landslide of nearly 97 percent.

Sexual harassment has become an endemic problem in Egypt over the last decade – and not just in protests.

The prosecutor general’s office said in a statement on Monday it was investigating the cases of sexual harassment which occurred in Tahrir Square on Sunday. The public prosecution said assailants tore off the clothes of several female protesters and sexually harassed them to “ruin the celebrations”.

The prosecution said it was interrogating the victims, adding that it referred them to the Forensics Authority to document their injuries.

The prosecutor general’s office also said it was interrogating three suspects detained since Thursday for sexually assaulting a 42 year-old woman and her daughter in Tahrir Square. Demonstrators gathered in Tahrir Square on 3 June to celebrate Al-Sisi’s win, shortly after the official announcement of the presidential elections’ results. The prosecution added that the aforementioned assault was repeatedly shared on social media on Monday.

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A video documenting one case of sexual assault in Tahrir Square went viral on Sunday night. The video shows a woman being subjected to mass assault after she is stripped naked, with security personnel trying to drive the assailants away. The Daily News Egypt was unable to track the time the video was taken.

The three suspects are facing the charges of: forcible indecent assault, attempted rape, detention and torture, the prosecution said, adding that it is working on identifying the rest of the assailants.

The state-affiliated National Council for Women (NCW) condemned the aforementioned assault in a statement released on Monday, describing it as “barbaric”.

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Shortly before ceding power, former President Adly Mansour issued a decision on Thursday amending Article 58 in the Penal Code, to define the term “sexual harassment” as a crime and introduce harsher punishment for its practice.

The new law deals with harassment as a crime punishable by a minimum of six months in prison which could expand to five years, depending on its type. It also fines the harasser from EGP 3,000 to EGP 50,000.

The legislation expands the definition of sexual harassment, stretching it to include the use of sexual innuendos through “signs”, whether verbally or physically. The signatories of Monday’s statement criticised the aforementioned definition for linking harassment to the harasser’s intentions rather than linking it to the level of harm that befalls the victim, adding that looking into the assailant’s intentions would limit the effectiveness of the legislation’s application.(T/P03/P04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)