CAIRO (AP) — A string of sexual assaults on women during
celebrations of Egypt’s presidential inauguration — including a mass
attack on a 19-year-old student who was stripped in Cairo’s Tahrir
Square — prompted outrage Monday as a video emerged purportedly showing
the teenager, bloodied and naked, surrounded by dozens of men.
Seven
men were arrested in connection with the assault and police were
investigating 27 other complaints of sexual harassment against women
during Sunday’s rallies by tens of thousands of people celebrating
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s inauguration late into the night, security
officials said.
Sexual violence has increasingly plagued large
gatherings during the past three years of turmoil following the 2011
uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and women’s groups
complained Monday that tough new laws have not done enough.
Twenty-nine
women’s rights groups released a joint statement accusing the
government of failing do enough to address the spiraling outbreak of mob
attacks on women. The groups said they had documented more than 250
cases of "mass sexual rape and mass sexual assaults" from November 2012
to January 2014.
"Combatting that phenomena requires a comprehensive national strategy," said the statement
signed by the women’s groups.
Last
week, authorities issued a decree declaring sexual harassment a crime
punishable by up to five years in prison. The decree amended Egypt’s
current laws on abuse, which did not criminalize sexual harassment and
only vaguely referred to such offenses as "indecent assault."
Sexual
harassment has been one of Egypt’s enduring social ills, embedded in
the country’s patriarchal conservative culture, where women are seen as
inferior to men. Movies often portray women as sex objects, leaving them
vulnerable to men who feel empowered by the absence of a strong legal
deterrent.
Sexual assaults have increased dramatically in ferocity
and in number in the three years since Mubarak’s ouster, with Tahrir
square, birthplace of the 2011 uprising, the site of multiple sexual
attacks on women amid the large crowds.
In the latest incident,
video footage posted on social media purportedly shows the student
completely naked amid a crowd of men, parts of her body bloodied as
policemen struggled to escort her out of Tahrir. The video appeared
authentic and was consistent with AP reporting of the incident.
Seven
men were arrested in connection with the attack on the student, who was
hospitalized, said the officials. They did not elaborate on her
condition and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak to the media.
The Interior Ministry, in charge
of police, identified the seven suspects and gave their ages as between
15 and 49. It said they were arrested for "harassing several girls" but
made no mention of the student. A policeman was injured while the seven
were being arrested, the ministry added.
Authorities
investigating other reports of sexual assaults were examining a dozen
videos from security cameras or from bystanders who filmed the incidents
on their mobile phones, the officials said.
They said the footage
suggested organized attacks, with groups of men luring victims away
from densely crowded spots before encircling them as they assaulted
them. Many brandished knives which they used to threaten victims or
against anyone attempting to come to their rescue.
Further causing
an uproar were comments by a TV anchorwoman during a live report from a
correspondent covering the Tahrir celebrations. When the correspondent
for al-Nahar TV told the anchorwoman there had been several cases of
sexual harassment, she laughed and said it’s "because they are happy."
The anchorwoman, Maha Bahnassy, denied Monday that her comment was in response to the harassment
incidents.
"I was, along with my guests, commenting on people’s joy, not the harassment," she said on her
Facebook page.
The
anti-sexual harassment decree issued last week amends Egypt’s current
laws on the abuse. Those convicted face six months to five years in
prison, with the maximum punishment reserved for offenders holding
positions of power over their victims, such as when the offender is the
woman’s boss or is armed.
Repeat offenders would see their
sentences doubled, the decree said. Along with the maximum five-year
sentence, offenders can be fined up to 5,000 Egyptian pounds, or about
$714.
Last year, a joint report by the United Nations Entity for
Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, Egypt’s Demographic Center
and the National Planning Institute found that more than 99 percent of
hundreds of women surveyed in seven of the country’s 27 provinces
reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment, ranging from
verbal harassment to rape.
The breakdown in security in the wake
of the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak has left Egypt’s streets even
more unsafe for women.
Initiatives to counter harassment have
multiplied. Volunteer groups started escorting women, especially during
political gatherings. Activists offered self-defense classes for women
and social networking sites launched "name and shame" campaigns.