Another Egyptian holiday, more sexual harassment
Dec 2nd, 2009 | By Joseph Mayton | Category: Egypt, News, Sexual Harassment, Women
CAIRO: In what is becoming commonplace in Egypt every Eid (Islamic Feast), or holiday, security forces and civil society groups monitored hundreds of sexual harassment cases during the four-day vacation. They reported hundreds of girls and women were subjected to sexual harassment and assaults by men and boys, in addition to what they say are many more cases that go unreported to police or recorded by security patrols.
Security services in Cairo resorted to deploying security patrols in popular areas across the city and deployed a number of security personnel wearing civilian clothes. According to police, they arrested 23 young men and boys who were sexually harassing girls across Cairo. The Nile promenade, downtown, a number of parks and cinemas were the areas where the majority of harassment, groping and assaults took place, they reported to local newspapers.
Harassment has become an endemic problem facing Egypt’s streets. A report published by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) in 2008, revealed that the vast majority of women face verbal harassment on a daily basis. Some 70 percent of Egyptian women said they have been harassed or assaulted on their country’s streets, while 98 percent of foreign women said they experienced similar issues.
An official security source in Cairo told local newspapers that the ages of those who perpetrated the crimes and had been arrested were between 14 and 25-years-old. Police argued that most of them had come from areas on the outskirts of the city and had come to local cinemas, parks and gardens to celebrate the feast. The source added that police stations in Cairo recorded 317 official reports during the days of Eid.
But, women are not convinced that these people had “come from areas outside Cairo.” They argue that this is an ongoing problem and is not isolated to the holidays.
“It happens every day we go out and it is disgusting that the police would try to argue it away in this manner. They should be doing their job of protecting Egyptians from the daily harassment they face,” said Heba Latif, a 28-year-old married woman who said she has witnessed and been victim to dozens of incidents of harassment in the past year. “It is horrible and I don’t like leaving my home or my husband,” she added.
Police stations recorded 115 communications in Helwan, just south of Cairo. In Giza, police stations recorded 23 cases of harassment in the areas near the Nile and on Gamat al-Dawel Street in the Giza area of Mohandiseen. There were also 7 cases in the governorate of 6th of October. But rights workers say this figure could be much higher had all women reported harassment.
“We know that it is probably higher, but the stigma of not reporting harassment persists in this country. We hope that people will begin to see that it is not the woman’s fault for these crimes,” argued Nehad Abu Komsan, chairwoman of the ECWR.
In Alexandria, the city’s promenade also witnessed hundreds of cases of sexual harassment in the absence of a significant security presence, as residents of the city said they were forced to stay in their homes and prevented their daughters from going out for even a walk out of fear of being harmed or harassed.
Omayma Salah, a women’s activist in the country working with the grassroots Defend the Right of Women Association, went out in Mohandiseen during the holiday, in what she told local newspapers were heavy and decent clothing, but that did not save her from being subjected to harassment, she said.
In 2006, massive sexual harassment erupted in downtown Cairo, which saw women groped at and their clothes torn as a frenzied mob of boys and men attacked them. The incident helped push harassment into the limelight, but still, three years on, women continue to face similar incidents in the country.
A draft law has been under discussion in Parliament for over a year now, but has yet to be passed by lawmakers.
**additional reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam
BM
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by fustat, Bikya Masr. Bikya Masr said: Another Egyptian holiday, more sexual harassment: CAIRO: In what is becoming commonplace in Egypt every Eid (Is.. http://bit.ly/5XxIc0 [...]
As much as street harassment is despicable and the Egyptian society needs to work on it. It is very light version of sexual harassment. Daily, egyptian women are suffering from the real sexual harassment and abuse in work places and homes. These types of harassment are more damaging than few words.
The media should start giving more focus on the more serious types of sexual harassments
Mohajer Masry
With Muhammed, a sexual deviant with an unquenchable lust, as a ‘prophetic’ role model for Muslim men, is this any real surprise??
Think about it…..be honest. Were Muhammeds sexual examples moral and admirable?
~ The Infidel Alliance
This is off the article subject but recently, I noticed some comments by “The Infidel Allianceâ€
An infidel means one without faith or one who doubts or rejects central tenets of a religion.
Quran and Islam always described Christian and Jews as the people of the book “Ahl El Ketab†but some Christian and Copts like to call themselves “infidelâ€, does this name reflect their own believes or what ……!!!?
Mohajer Masry
As usual it only takes a few posts before the religion comes out. Harrassment is something bad that cannot, and should not, be tolerated by any government, regardless of the state faith. Women are harrassed in Britain all the time, but religion never comes into it.
Dear Mohajer Masry,
“The Infidel Alliance” encompasses all people who are target of Islamic subjugation , and who simply want to be left alone to live their lives in peace and goodwill to one another: Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Baha’i, Sikhs, women, homosexuals, animists, atheists, and most importantly apostate Muslims (who are actually the single most oppressed target of Islam, denied freedom of conscience and freedom of speech & thought by their “religion”.
Oh….and besides the aforementioned “infidel”, let’s not forget the mushrikun, the kaffir, and the black (whose abuse from Islamic slavery made western slavery look like a picnic….Zanzibar….I’ve been there & seen it with my own eyes…..you know what I’m talking about).
As long as no one seeks to forcibly convert, subjugate or kill another human being, we should not worry about their religious beliefs. Which is PRECISELY why we MUST care about Islam.
Best regards,
~ The Infidel Alliance
To Mohajer – yr comments #2 and #4 and in consideration of #6 and his ongoing campaign
A short story which can be found in Wikipedia:
“… one of the slaves of Umayyah ibn Khalaf, a terrible foe of Islam and Muhammad, was named Bilal. Bilal learned about Muhammad and his teachings and became Muslim, but kept his belief in secret. However, his master Ummaya came to know that he had opted to be a Muslim. So he started punishing him. He ordered his slaves to make him lay on the hot sand and put heavy stones on his body so that he could not move. After such punishments, news of this slave reached some of Muhammad’s companions who told Muhammad of the slave. Muhammad then sent Abu Baker to buy Bilal’s freedom from Umayyah (Bilal’s slave master). Muhammad later learned of Bilal’s unique way of praying and unique voice with which he spoke from the soul and as a result of this Bilal became the first muezzin.
Later on, some people suggested that this honor should be given to someone else, because Bilal could not pronounce the Arabic letter ’sheen’ properly and instead used the letter ’seen’ (the two sounds had merged in “s†in classical Ge’ez). Muhammad said, “The ’seen’ of Bilal is ’sheen’ in the hearing of God,†meaning that God does not see the physical manifestation; he appreciates the purity of heart. Bilal felt deep love for Muhammad, and he is quoted as reciting some lines of poetry in his own language, in praise of Muhammad. One verse translated:
“When noble traits are described in our country, thou art pointed out as a model among us.—
So far the story.
~*~*~
One could also read the Qu’ran and see what it says about slavery and how much it is against it.
Slavery, like female genital mutilation (as I pointed out detailed in the forum http://bikyamasr.com/?p=6144&cpage=3#comment-2648) are
PRE-ISLAMIC attrocities
which did not miraculosly disappear because of people embracing Islam. Ot os very much like in Christianity and Judaism where pre-Christian and pre-Judaism = pagan practises are still to be found up until today; the only difference being that neither one of these two religions are demonized and dehumanized … because nobody has it on the political agenda right now.
I quote again what I said before:
“Prof. M.H. Zakzouk*) said it very suscinct in one of his studies from which I may quote: “Belief is based upon one’s conviction and sincere belief is, therefore, based on indisputable conviction and is not the result of blind imitation or compulsion. Every individual is free to choose or adopt the faith in which he believes and to exercise his free thought even if he is an atheist. No one has the right to interfere with his beliefs provided that he keeps his beliefs to himself and does not spread them among the people in order to confuse them regarding their moral values.â€
Further he says: “If he ([the apostate] should renounce his religion without spreading his views among the people and without shaking the people’s belief, he is immune against all harm.â€â€
*) Dr. Zakzouk is the Minister of Al Awqaf Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs
Such a statement: “As long as no one seeks to forcibly convert, subjugate or kill another human being, we should not worry about their religious beliefs. Which is PRECISELY why we MUST care about Islam.”
It fails me how some people can believe that repeating lies ad nauseam makes them become truth?? I wonder if the paycheck is at least equaly big as the lies which are spread so thoroughly.
To Sean – yr comment #5
Don’t be upset but commentator #3 has embraced his crusade against Islam and is in full swing.
Even if one would say that the sun was shining today on Egypt … he would tell you that “how can you say this in view of the fact that it has been shining on people who accept Muhammed, a sexual deviant with an unquenchable lust, as a ‘prophetic’ role model for Muslim??” or something to that effect.
It never fails. I’m actually surprised that he has not put his usual comment under the article of Nawal El Saadawi too.
Dear Sean, Eleonora and any other commentator,
If any of my comments are factually incorrect, or are are unsupported by facts, or are unreasonable conclusions based on the facts, I will glady stand corrected.
So far, however, the only response is to attack me, not to address the issues I bring up. I know they may be uncomfortable to consider, but they are the facts, and must be considered.
Also, I want to make it perfectly clear that my comments are not directed towards individual Muslims (except Muhammed) or Muslims at large, but rather at the ideology of Islam itself. It is Islam that keeps Muslims trapped in a philisophical, psychological and intellectual prison.
Best regards,
~ The Infidel Alliance
In Memoriam: Aqsa Parvez., Amina & Sarah Said, and the countless other innocent women killed in Islamo-mysogynist inspired honor killings: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/03/honor-killing-islams-gruesome-gallery.html
Well, having just returned from several weeks in Egypt, and in particular Cairo and Alexandria, I spent many days walking from point A to point B at all hours of the day and night without witnessing one visible sign of sexual harassment by anyone or against anyone on the streets. In fact, I must be one of the 2% of foreign women who have not only never been harassed by Egyptian men but also have never witnessed such displays against other women there. Perhaps this problem is beginning to be blown out of all proportion to the point of paranoia….or perhaps it is just a way of keeping women off the streets whilst they live in fear of ghosts!! I must admit that all the men and women who I saw on the streets carried on their daily lives in total harmony.
[...] The Los Angeles Times asks whether sexual harassment is an eid tradition. [...]
Dear Eleonora and Mohajar Masry,
Again…one simple question:
Was the sex life of Muhammed and his treatment of women an example of higher human morality worthy of emulation, or not?
We look forward to your answer.
~The Infidel Alliance
To the infedel Alliance
Mohamed always respected alot his wifes and was fair. Read about him and learn how he was good.
STOP BEING AN INGNORANT!!!!!!!!
All the coments you have on this site are encrusted with ingnorant and racism.
You are the one who don’t respect peoples rights, freedom and all your coments are full prejudges and generalization.
To the Infidel Alliance
In Christianity, the woman is considered as cause of Adam’s expulsion from paradise. The say that Eve was the one how ate the first one from the tree. In Judaism the women is considered like an inferior creature. When the woman is menstruated, she is very impure and she can’t eat on the same table as everyone. Some on them, has even to leave the house until her period end.
BUT IN ISLAM, THE TRUE RELIGION OF GOD, the women is equal to the man. A Muslim Savant once said “educating a man is educating an individual, educating a women is educating a nationâ€.
Egyptian Canadian
Dear “egyptian canadian”,
You need to get your head back in your ‘holy’ books my friend. The facts, as can be found in the Koran, Ahadith, Sunnah and Sira reveal Muhammed to be a perverted sexual deviant and a woman abusing mysogynist. He was a pervert prophet.
Let’s learn together! :
Koran (2:228) – “and the men are a degree above them [women]”
Koran (2:223) – “Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will…”
Koran (4:3) – “Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four”
Bukhari (6:301) – “Muhammad said, ‘Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?’ They replied in the affirmative. He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her intelligence.’”
Bukhari (6:301) – continued – “Muhammad said ‘Isn’t it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?’ The women replied in the affirmative. He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her religion.’”
Muslim (4:1039) – “A’isha said to Muhammad: ‘You have made us equal to the dogs and the asses’”
Ishaq 593 – “From the captives of Hunayn, Allah’s Messenger gave his son-in-law Ali a slave girl called Baytab and he gave [future Caliph] Uthman a slave girl called Zaynab and [future Caliph] Umar another.”
Ishaq 969 – “Men were to lay injunctions on women lightly, for they were prisoners of men and had no control over their persons.”
It sure sounds like your Islamic prince Muhammed was a sex slaving, raping, sex trafficking, woman beating, child raping, demeaning, abusive, horny, sex addicted pervert who thought women were so beneath men that he and his followers could own them as property, rape them at any time, anywhere, in whatever manner the mae owner pleased.
NICE!! Nice guy that Muhammed. Even his little 6 year old first grade ‘wife’ Aisha recognized his abuse and said so.
Muhammed set the standard for Muslim men….a standard of abuse of women manifested today in the harassment problem in Egypt (and throughout the Islamic world).
I know it’s a shock to be faced with this reality, after you have been indoctrinated and brainwashed your whole tife. But if you are objective, can break free and apply critical thinking, you can see from Islams very own sources that what you were led to believe is simply not the truth.
Best regards,
~ The Infidel Alliance