A Cairo court commenced on Wednesday (June 25) the trial of 12 defendants charged with sexually assaulting women during the Tahrir Square celebrations for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inauguration on June 8.
The incident came two weeks after a graphic video was posted on YouTube showing a naked woman with injuries on her hip being dragged through a large crowd towards an ambulance. It drew massive public outcry - both in Egypt and abroad - and led further victims to come forward.
Sisi apologized and vowed to end the "phenomenon" when he visited one of the hospitalized women, sexually assaulted in Tahrir Square, on June 11.
He ordered the Interior Minister to fight sexual harassment and the U.S. urged his government to do whatever it takes to combat the issue.
Wednesday's case saw the defendants show their backs to the court while inside their cage. The victims were in attendance but refused to be filmed. Judge Mohamed Mostafa Al-Feki asked the defendants if they were guilty of the charges.
"Have you committed the following crimes; kidnapping with show of violence and coercion; unjust detainment; coercive robbery; violent indecent assault?"
All defendants denied the charges.
Egypt issued a new law in early June that punishes sexual harassment with at least six months in jail or fines of at least 3,000 Egyptian pounds (420 USD). Judicial sources said all the new arrests and charges were made under the new law.
Sexual assault has been common for a decade at large gatherings in Egypt, where half the 86 million population are poor and illiterate. It was rampant at protests during and after the 2011 uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
One of the victims' lawyers, Hatem al-Saeid said that he personally wishes for the death penalty, however he will accept the prosecutions demand for a life sentence.
"We are joining the prosecution in its claims because there are a number of crimes connected together [in this case]. We are wishing for - I am personally wishing for - the death penalty and not only a life sentence. But the maximum sentence we are wishing for will be a life sentence as a severe prison sentence because there were a number of crimes committed including attempted murder, indecent assault and kidnapping a female. We will be aiming at a maximum sentence of life," said al-Saeid.
However, defense lawyers argue that the case was mainly instigated by the media and has no legal background.
"The defendant I am representing was initially a witness to the crime. The victim felt that the case was not being directed in her favor because it is a case instigated by the media and it has no legal factual evidence. The event was said to have occurred on a certain date but then the official complaint was filed 15 days later. The events are all contradictory and the forensic report proved the lies of the claimants," said Shaaban Awad, an attorney representing one of the defendants.
On Saturday (June 21) another court sentenced a man to one year in jail for taking pictures of a woman on a public bus while sleeping; the swiftest such ruling since Egypt introduced the new law in early June.
Sexual harassment, high rates of female genital cutting and a surge in violence after the Arab Spring uprisings have made Egypt the worst country in the Arab world to be a woman, a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey showed late last year.
REUTERS