South Cairo Criminal Court has sentenced seven accused in sexual harassment cases to life imprisonment and two others to 20 years, state-owned Al-Ahram reported. The assailants were charged with kidnapping, indecent assault, physical torture, attempted rape and attempted murder.
Mostafa Mahmoud, lawyer at Nazra Feminist studies, said there were five cases of sexual assault presented in front of the Criminal Court, four of the five cases received verdicts on Wednesday.
Mahmoud added that some of the assailants were accused in more than one case of sexual assault.
A 42-year-old women and her daughter were sexually assaulted on 3 June in Tahrir Square, where supporters of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi had gathered to celebrate his election. A video taken of the assault went viral on the same night.
According to the prosecution the woman was stripped naked, scalded with boiling water with the assailants touching her.
Al-Sisi visited the victim in the hospital and apologised to her and “to all Egyptian women”, as reported on state television, saying that every “single case of assault is unacceptable”.
Mahmoud added that three cases of sexual assault were reported on 8 June, the day Al-Sisi was inaugurated. One of the cases goes back to 25 January 2013. The fifth case comprises the assault of the woman and her daughter on 3 June.
Mahmoud noted that the latter case is still on hold, but the verdict is expected to be issued in the coming 10 days.
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women issued a report in April 2013 revealing that the majority of Egyptian women (99.3%) have experienced sexual harassment and 96.5% has been sexually assaulted.
