Alleged sexual offenders face social media barrage in Egypt
Despite rising online calls for sexual offenders to be held accountable for their crimes and a new amendment to the anti-sexual harassment law guaranteeing confidentiality of survivors, many women in Egypt are still reluctant to report sexual harassment incidents for fear of being stigmatized.
The Me Too movement has taken Egypt by storm with an increasing number of women joining on social media in recent weeks to name men they claim have sexually assaulted or harassed them. Emboldened by the July 4 arrest and detention of Ahmed Bassam Zaki — a university student accused of sexual assault and harassment of dozens of women — other women have stepped up their accusations against other alleged sexual offenders in the hope that the perpetrators be brought to justice.
The online anti-sexual harassment campaign has attracted the media's attention, piling pressure on the authorities to take action to stem the tide of sexual harassment, widespread in Egypt.
On Aug. 25 — a month after allegations of a 2014 gang rape of an 18-year old girl at a five-star Cairo hotel surfaced on social media — the public prosecutor ordered the arrest of several young men accused in what is called locally the “Fairmont Crime.” He also imposed a travel ban on the suspects (who hail from wealthy and powerful families) and placed their names on watch lists at the country's airports and seaports.
Six of the suspects have since been arrested, four of them in Lebanon on Aug. 28 during an Interpol-coordinated operation. The other two were arrested earlier in Egypt, one in the north coast and the other, Amir Zayed, at the airport Aug. 26 as he tried to leave Egypt.
