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Fez- Last Wednesday, a 19-year-old Egyptian woman jumped off a bridge into the Nile River as a reaction to being sexually harassed in public.
Civil society organizations condemned the act and called for a reform in the penal code concerning the gender disparity in order to help stop this endemic. The Egyptian media, however, has remained silent about the incident.
The tragic event occurred when an anonymous man attacked the victim while she was walking with her friend, witnesses said. “The attacker did not stop hanging on and touching the victim on the bridge. She and I asked him to stop, but it was in vain. She threatened him, and then jumped into the water. A man tried to save her. She had already drowned when I tried to help,” a witness said.
The police tried to hide the truth, but the ‘’I saw harassment’’ association confirmed that the cause of the suicide was street harassment.
“Qasr al Nil police’s report concerning the incident is irresponsible and it should be examined. The police should be accused of absolute negligence, as they tried to hide the truth and pretend that the girl committed suicide because of family problems,” said the association in a communiqué.
The communiqué also conveyed a direct message to Egyptian women encouraging them to defend themselves from sexual harassment: “You have the right to life, security, and dignity. Do not be ashamed of your body. Celebrate it instead. You are citizens in this country, and all the acts of violence committed against you are violations of human rights”.
Sexual harassment in Egypt has become a significant threat to women’s integration into society, as lot of women have been attacked and raped since the Egyptian revolution in 2011.
Edited by Timothy Filla
