Rights groups call for inquiry into previous incidents of sexual violence

The verdict in the Tahrir mob sexual assault case issued last week is “an initial step” towards holding perpetrators of such crimes accountable and ending ongoing impunity, a number of human rights groups said in a statement, calling for the punishment of perpetrators of previous crimes.

The verdict reflects the state’s acknowledgment of such crimes, the statement maintained.

The statement by rights groups — including Nazra for Feminist Studies, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), the Nadim Center for the Management and Rehabilitation of victims of violence, among 18 others — said there are over 500 documented cases from June 2012 until January 2014, whose culprits should be brought to justice and undergo a fair trial. They raised concerns that the issue of sexual violence would be shelved following the recent verdicts, without proper investigation into other cases.

The groups urge authorities to take strategic steps to combat these crimes through the punishment of perpetrators and the provision of necessary services for the survivors of such crimes.

They hold the state responsible for fighting sexual violence and encourage the government to make legislative amendments to define such crimes in a realistic manner.  

The statement called for a national strategy to combat sexual harassment, which has been discussed recently, and for the involvement of women’s groups in devising it.

Last week, a Cairo court handed nine defendants prison sentences ranging from life to 20 years, in a case dubbed by Arabic language media as the “Tahrir Harassment” trial.

The verdicts were given in four separate cases. Three defendants involved in the sexual assault of a woman in Tahrir Square on 25 January 2013, received life in prison, five years under surveillance and a LE10,000 fine.

Six defendants in a case concerning two women that were attacked in Tahrir Square on June 8 when President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was inaugurated, received prison sentences ranging from life to 20 years, five years surveillance and LE50,000 civil compensation.

In case 6330, which refers to a 21-year-old university student, three defendants received life in prison and a fourth got 20 years. And in case 6328, in which another university student was badly beaten, causing her to lose sight in her left eye, the three defendants received life in prison.

“These verdicts have to be considered the first step in reforming the legislative system and state institutions to deal with sexual violence cases, which are rampant within Egyptian society, and guaranteeing fair trials for perpetrators,” the statement concluded.