Sexual assaults in Egypt stir outrage
A string of sexual assaults on women during celebrations of Egyptâs presidential inauguration - including a mass attack on a 19-year-old student who was stripped in Cairoâs Tahrir Square - have prompted outrage 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 rallies on June 8 by tens of thousands of people celebrating Abdel-Fattah el-Sisiâs 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 Hosni Mubarak, and womenâs groups complained June 9 that tough new laws have not done enough.
Twenty-nine womenâs 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 âmass sexual rape and mass sexual assaultsâ from November 2012 to January 2014.
âComprehensive national strategy neededâ
âCombatting that phenomena requires a comprehensive national strategy,â said the statement signed by the womenâs groups.
Last week, authorities issued a decree declaring sexual harassment a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. The decree amended Egyptâs current laws on abuse, which did not criminalize sexual harassment and only vaguely referred to such offenses as âindecent assault.â
Sexual assaults have increased dramatically in ferocity and in number in the three...
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