An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced a former student to three years in prison for sexually harassing two young women, in a case that sparked outrage on social media under the #MeToo hashtag..
The economic court, which tries cyber crimes, sentenced Ahmed Bassem Zaki “to three years in prison, finding him guilty of sexually harassing two girls over the phone, sending sexual photos to one of them and repeatedly contacting the other without her consent”, a judicial source told AFP.
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Zaki, who is in his 20s, can appeal the verdict, the source added.
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Claims against Zaki emerged online in July in the form of testimonies — many from classmates — published by the Instagram account “Assault Police”, including an alleged rape and dozens of instances of assault against of girls and women, some involving blackmail.
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Some alleged incidents involved girls as young as 14.
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Zaki, a former student of some of Egypt’s most elite schools and the American University in Cairo, was arrested on July 4 and confessed to assaulting and blackmailing six complainants, one of whom was a minor.
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He will be tried by a criminal court on January 9 on charges of sexually assaulting three underage girls and attempting to blackmail them.
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The case kickstarted a #MeToo campaign in Egypt, where women complain of rampant sexual harassment, a criminal offence since 2014.
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United Nations surveys say most women in the conservative country have been subject to harassment ranging from catcalling, pinching, groping or worse.
Women are often reluctant to speak out fearing public shame and being blamed for dressing or acting “provocatively”.
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Egypt’s parliament in August approved amendments to the criminal code granting victims of sexual assault the right to anonymity.
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The recent #MeToo momentum laid bare shocking cases including a 2014 alleged gang rape of a woman at a luxury hotel in Cairo.
from @punchnewspapers on instagram
Good day stella,I know this is an unrelated post,but I just need to get this off my chest.pls forgive any typos you might encounter in this message. Its about this recent rape case of one Justin Ug and the anonymous accuser,I wish we have reliable investigators that will look into this case properly,cus I have a feeling that this is another jussie smollett stunt,being a rape victim myself I do not support any form of false accusations from my gender, but some fame hungry people are beginning to trivialize this issue and knowing fully well that most Nigerians are swayed by sentiments and we do not have authorities to properly look into cases like these,it will only be deliberated on Twitter and after 2 days or so the story dies,leaving people like me traumatized.
ReplyDeleteAwwwwww. Anon, come get an e-hug. I'm a victim as well and I see your point. Mine went free then cos I couldn't speak out as he was my ill tempered sister's boyfriend but today I hear he is a mad man. In Nigeria the only judge regarding rape most times is God himself.
DeleteAlmost all the rape cases I have come across on the internet since the beginning of this year have died down with no tangible conclusion, after the phrase "I'll be pursuing this case legally " ,we won't hear anything about it again.why I'm writing this is because anytime I come accross these cases it triggers my experience and I always follow it up to see if there'll be any form of justice either for the accuser or accused, but it always begins and end on Twitter as a banter,the most depressing thing is how some Twitter people turn it into a gender war.i don't know if everything I wrote makes any sense cus my thoughts are distorted right now. And If his case is real,I pray the lady is found and punished accordingly. But my eyes will be on this case,I'll be waiting to see if this guy will cash in on this fame,cus I've never heard of him before now.for all those people pulling off a rape stunt for fame(regardless of the gender),I just want to let you know that you're destroying the lives of the real victims, you're shutting down their voices and killing their hope knowing fully well that the "default Nigerian " can be easily swayed by sentiment. I do not want to say anything negative but what you're doing is not fair, please grow a conscience. I have a lot on my mind but let me stop here.thanks for the platform stella, even if it doesn't get posted I feel better now,at least I get to say what's on my mind. Thank you and happy holidays
ReplyDeleteThis is a continuation on my thoughts about the justin ug's case.my first post ended with "leaving people like me traumatized".
DeleteOf course, the law has always been working there but only hyped when it concerns the male gender, if the gender of hate now are jailed for exposing their naked bodies to us with outfits showing off camel toes and All the body contours, by that time the law wouldn't be seen to work anymore..
ReplyDeleteLook at the false allegations trending twitter, look at that of that 1000dollar transcorp hoe.. we didn't see the gender of hate shutting down the media space.. even some nonsense men dey even carry the matter to drown their fellow men just to please the gender of hate hoping it'll get them pussies.. WETIN MAN DO MAN
Bye
Remove your eyes from what isn't yours
DeleteDevelop self control
You definitely have comprehension issues. The left side of your brain always shuts down when you read objective criticism of your gender, but when it concerns men, it picks up back in full force. If you're to be replying my comments, you need to use the left side of your brain more so you don't end up making a fool of yourself like you always do.
DeleteEnjoy your day
Space no go de again for Nigerian prison if this law is applied here.
ReplyDeleteMore will be built
Delete