Fatal stabbings highlight violence against women in Egypt
Send a link to a friend
[August 24, 2022]
By Farah Saafan and Mai Shams El-Din
CAIRO (Reuters) - A series of violent
crimes against women in Egypt has drawn attention to gaps in legal and
social protections that leave female citizens vulnerable to attacks and
harassment, victims and activists say.
The highest profile case was the murder in late June of 21-year-old
student Nayera Ashraf, who was stabbed 19 times outside the gates of a
university in Mansoura, north of Cairo. It emerged that the man
convicted for her killing, Mohamed Adel, had been harassing her for
almost a year after she rejected his marriage proposal.
Her death gained coverage across the Middle East, and drew attention to
other violent crimes against women in Egypt. The reaction also built on
a campaign against sexual abuse among Egypt's elite in 2020, partly
inspired by the international "#MeToo" movement.
Activists say it is hard to measure the extent of gender-based violence
in Egypt, where cultural practices have often prevented abused women
from coming forward. Most cases are believed to go unreported.
A study by Egypt's Edraak Foundation for Development and Equality (EFDE),
a non-governmental organisation, recorded 813 crimes of violence against
women and girls mentioned in media reports and statements from the
public prosecutor in 2021, up from 415 in 2020.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Aug/24/images/ads/current/hartsburggrain_sda_FAIR_2022.png)
Victims and lawyers say that those who did seek help from authorities
had not always received it.
Khaled Abdel Rahman, a lawyer for Ashraf's family, told Reuters that
Adel stalked her, intimidated her publicly, created fake social media
accounts using photographs of her face edited onto pornographic images
and texted her death threats.
But he said that when Ashraf filed two restraining orders and reported
the threats to the cybercrime police unit, the case was neglected.
"If these police reports had undergone proper legal procedures and
action was taken against the accused person, Nayera would not have been
killed," he said.
A judicial source familiar with the investigation who asked to remain
anonymous said that in Ashraf's case it was "very difficult" to prove
that the fake accounts belonged to the accused and that investigations
take time.
Asked for comment on what critics described as neglect in utilising laws
that could protect women, the prosecutor's office referred to its public
statements.
In a statement issued ahead of Adel's trial, the prosecution said it
confirmed its "firm response towards all forms of crimes of violence and
aggression, especially those against women and youth". The interior
ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
SECOND STABBING
Less than two months after Nayera Ashraf's murder, another university
student, 20-year-old Salma Bahgat, was fatally stabbed at least 15 times
in Zagazig, between Cairo and Mansoura. A fellow student has been
charged with killing her after she rejected his marriage proposal.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/082422PIX/news_a26.jpg)
Mary Magdy, a Coptic Christian woman,
looks out of a window, after an interview with Reuters TV, at her
home in Cairo, Egypt July 7, 2022. A wave of high-profile domestic
violence cases in Egypt has cast light on what critics describe as
failures by authorities and the legal system in protecting at-risk
women. REUTERS/Ahmed Fahm
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Aug/24/images/ads/current/graue_sda_FAIR_2022.png)
The criminal trial of the suspect is due to start early September.
Amid the public outcry, a court in Mansoura found Ashraf's killer
Adel guilty of premeditated murder within days of the crime. His
death sentence was confirmed in another court in July.
Lobna Darwish, gender specialist at the NGO Egyptian Initiative for
Personal Rights, said the state was trying to set an example by
handing out tough penalties on cases that have stirred public
opinion.
"But we ignore the root causes of violence against women and the
extent of violence happening in homes and outside," she said.
The court that convicted Adel requested parliament change the law to
allow for his execution to be broadcast on television.
One problem is the lack of a law criminalising violence against
women that could prevent crimes before they happen, said Entessar El
Saeed, a lawyer and director of the Cairo Foundation for Development
and Law, an independent civil society group.
Social pressure against women reporting crimes also remains an
obstacle, said El Saeed.
Such pressure was clear in the case of Mary Magdy, a 35-year-old
woman who reported her husband to the police for four incidents of
violent assault.
While he was summoned for questioning, no legal action was taken at
first over her allegations, and police and prosecutors only offered
spousal reconciliation, Magdy told Reuters.
Relatives pushed her to withdraw her complaints, but earlier this
year she leaked surveillance footage of one of the beatings, and the
public prosecutor reacted.
Her husband was arrested within a week and sentenced to a year in
prison.
However, Magdy said she remained fearful for her life and the lives
of her daughters once he is released. "I need safety," Magdy told
Reuters. "The thought of him being released terrorizes me."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Aug/24/images/ads/current/peasley_sda_FAIR_2022.png)
As a member of Egypt Coptic Christian minority, she is unable to
obtain a divorce.
"There is no legal path that protects her," said Saeed Fayez, her
lawyer.
(Reporting by Farah Saafan and Mai Shams El-Din; Editing by Nafisa
Eltahir, Aidan Lewis and Frank Jack Daniel)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |