Latest Epidemic: Mob Sex Assaults in Tahrir

CAIRO: 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have faced sexual harassment – according to a study by UN Women. This may be hard to believe for those who have not visited Egypt but as an Egyptian woman, I can assure that this is not an exaggeration.

...It is also a well-known fact that most of those cases are unaccounted for, whether it is verbal or physical harassment, many women ignore it. As when they try to protest by yelling or even threatening to contact law enforcement, they are either reprimanded by people who usually try to meddle to “fix the situation”, either encouraging them to let the incident go in fear that a criminal record will ruin the young man’s future or trying to shame the victim by telling her that her clothing or demeanor were provocative. 

Two young women, earlier this June, were sexually harassed then physically assaulted after they stood with “Free Hugs” signs. They decided to go to the nearest police station and in the presence of the father of one of the young women who happened to be a lawyer, they were blatantly threatened that if they were to press charges against the man who attacked them – slapping one of them across the face – he and his family will also press charges of public indecency. The police officers backed him up and told them that this will be on their record. The young women dropped charges and only posted about the incident on social media networks