A18 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 , 2020
BY SUDARSAN RAGHAVANcairo — Scores of Egyptian
women have been raising their
voices in recent weeks, detailing
on social media the sexual as-
saults they say they have en-
dured. Among those accused, an
affluent student and human
rights activists.
In some cases, alleged abusers
have been detained. Under pres-
sure, the government has drawn
up a measure to protect victims’
identities.
It is all part of a reckoning
viewed by many Egyptians as
their #MeToo movement.
But then there is the case of
Menna Abdel Aziz. In May, the
teenager posted a TikTok video of
herself sobbing, her face bruised
and swollen, saying she had been
raped. Instead of treating her as a
victim, authorities jailed her,
charging her with “debauchery”
for wearing clothes they deemed
immoral and with misusing so-
cial media.
Even as women are coming
forward to confront their attack-
ers in an unprecedented fashion,
others are being arrested merely
for expressing themselves.
Justice remains uneven for
women and often hinges on their
social class and wealth. An inade-
quate penal code, few prosecu-
tions of sexual attackers, weak
sexual harassment policies and
harsh morality laws have worked
to silence women, say women’s
rights advocates.
“This is certainly a significant
moment,” said Mai El-Sadany,
managing director of the Tahrir
Institute for Middle East Policy in
Washington. “We are seeing vic-
tims and survivors in so many
different contexts, from the uni-
versity setting to doctors’ offices
to the human rights field, public-
ly sharing stories of sexual ha-
rassment, assault and violence in
an effort to galvanize structural
change.”
“However,” she added, “it is too
early to say how this moment
may affect Egyptian society and
systems in the long term, and
there is still much to be done.”
Online testimonies
On July 1, women in Egypt took
to social media accusing an afflu-
ent Egyptian student of rapes and
sexual assaults. By the end of the
day, nearly 50 accusers had come
forward, and the number eventu-
ally exceeded 100, according to
@assaultpolice, an Instagram
and Twitter account set up by
activists to collect testimonies.
The alleged assaults and ha-
rassment began in 2016, accord-
ing to women on social media.
Some women, including minors,
said they met the young man in
person or online when he was
studying at an elite international
high school. Others crossed paths
with him at the American Univer-
sity in Cairo, the country’s most
prestigious university.
Within days, he was expelled
from the EU Business School in
Barcelona, where he was taking
online courses. The school filed a
complaint with Spanish authori-
ties urging an investigation.
After the social media fury,
Egyptian authorities arrested the
man. In a five-page statement,
the country’s prosecutor said the
man admitted to meeting at least
six young women online on dif-
ferent social media platforms.
The prosecutor also made alle-
gations that he said the young
man denied, including that he
threatened to send revealing pho-
tos of women to their families if
they did not have sex with him or
if they left the relationship. Pros-
ecutors said they were investigat-
ing additional allegations, in-
cluding rape and indecent assault
by force or threats.
“No sooner had he the chance
to be alone with them, he at-
tacked them, trying, forcefully to
have sexual intercourse with
them,” the prosecutor said in the
statement.
The young man’s father denied
the allegations when reached by
phone. “There is a misunder-
standing here,” he said. “He didn’t
admit anything. This is not true.”‘Huge stigma’ for victims
Since the young man’s arrest,
other alleged sexual offenders
have been accused. They include
Mohamed Nagy, a well-knownactivist, who was dismissed by his
organization after it said he ad-
mitted to sexually harassing
women on his Facebook page. He
apologized to his victims, blam-
ing his actions on his “bad up-
bringing and the society around
him.” He declined to comment
when reached by telephone.
Another rights group said it
suspended an employee for sexu-
al misconduct, and authorities
detained a well-known publisher
after he was accused of sexual
harassment, which he denied in a
Facebook post. Victims have also
opened up about being abused at
elite schools and in churches.
Last month, female students at
the High Cinema Institute, the
national film school, demanded
measures to protect them against
sexual harassment.
In a rare public statement, the
nation’s Al-Azhar establishment,
the Sunni Muslim world’s author-
ity on religious life and Islamic
education, spoke out against sex-
ual harassment. Al-Azhar encour-
aged women to report crimes and
denounced the targeting of wom-
en for wearing clothing that
might be considered suggestive.
The social media campaign
also prompted the government to
amend the country’s criminal law
to give judges the authority to
protect the identity and personal
details of sexual assault victims.
The bill, which has been submit-
ted to parliament for approval,raises hopes that more women
will come forward to expose
abuses.
Some Egyptians have ques-
tioned whether the current mo-
ment should be described as a
#MeToo one. That “makes it
sound like Egypt needed inspira-
tion from abroad to realize it had
a sexual violence problem and it
finally woke up,” tweeted Amro
Ali, a sociology professor at the
American University in Cairo.
Sexual assaults have long gone
unpunished in Egypt. Women’s
groups and activists have docu-
mented mass sexual assaults at
demonstrations, religious festi-
vals and other gatherings since- Egyptian victims even have
a name for being surrounded by
their attackers: the circle of hell.
A 2017 survey by two groups,
U.N. Women and Promundo, re-
ported that nearly two-thirds of
men in Egypt said they had sexu-
ally harassed women or girls on
the streets. More than three-
quarters of the men said that a
woman’s “provocative” dress was
“a legitimate reason for harass-
ment,” the survey said.
“In Egyptian society, there is a
huge stigma that follows survi-
vors of sexual assault,” said Amr
Magdi, Egypt researcher for Hu-
man Rights Watch. “They are
pushed to be silent and keep what
happened to themselves, which
brings continuous trauma.”
Many universities and work-
places have either weak or no
sexual harassment policies.
Egypt’s penal code is sorely in
need of amendments to better
protect rape and assault survi-
vors, activists say. There still isn’t
a law that criminalizes domestic
violence, despite years of promis-
es by officials to address this legal
gap. Existing laws to punish sexu-
al offenders have not always been
enforced.
Without the pressure of the
social media campaign, Magdi
said, it is unlikely “the govern-
ment would have taken any ac-
tion” against the student now
facing multiple allegations from
Egyptian prosecutors. Egypt’s
State Information Service did not
respond to two requests for com-
ment.‘Morality’ enforcers
Women — from singers to belly
dancers, novelists to fashion-
hungry teenagers — continue to
be detained on morality charges.
One belly dancer, Sama al-Masry,
was recently sentenced to three
years in prison for inciting “im-
morality and debauchery” with
photos she posted on her social
media accounts.
Then there are the recent ar-
rests over TikTok videos. Since
April 23, authorities have target-
ed a number of women, accusing
them of spreading immorality
and debauchery and of violating
Egyptian family values. Theircrime: dancing and wearing what
the authorities deemed were sug-
gestive or revealing clothes.
At least nine women, some
with millions of followers on
TikTok, remain in custody. On
Monday, a Cairo court sentenced
two female TikTok social media
influencers to two years in prison
for “violating family values and
principles.”
Abdel Aziz, who was arrested
after posting her disturbing video
about her rape, was transferred
to a rehabilitation center for
abused women after women’s
rights advocates intervened. Her
alleged attackers now face prose-
cution, but the charges against
her remain.
Socioeconomic status may be a
factor in these women’s incarcer-
ations. All the TikTok women
were from lower-income neigh-
borhoods. They wore clothes and
danced no differently than wom-
en from wealthy and elite back-
grounds in fashionable night-
clubs.
The student’s alleged victims,
by contrast, were presumably
also from elite backgrounds, and
thus were able to win more atten-
tion for their accusations and
bring about his swift arrest and
prosecution, activists said.
“If they were poorer women or
from lower social classes, there
could have been less chance for
accountability,” Magdi said.
[email protected]In Egypt, women’s anger builds to a # MeToo pitch
But as some speak out
about assaults, others are
jailed for attire, dancing
HASSAN AMMAR/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A mural seen in Cairo in 2013 reads in Arabic: “No harassment.” A 2017 survey by two groups, U.N. Women and Promundo, reported that nearly two-thirds of men in Egypt
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