855 Landmark Sexual Harassment Verdict

???? ????? ???? - ??? ???? ????? ????? The Respect Yourself Campaign against sexual harassment - There are still real men in Egypt

In what’s being described as the first criminal sentence for sexual harassment in Egypt, the Cairo Criminal Court yesterday sentenced Sherif Gabriel to three years in prison and an LE 501 fine for groping a woman’s breast. Al-Masry al-Youm reports:

Normally women do not report harassments so as to avoid scandal. This time, however, Noha Rushdi, a 27-year-old film director and victim of the above case, requested that the trial be public, which her family agreed with.

She told the press that Sherif Gabriel, the accused, was driving a pickup.

He slowed down and approached her. Suddenly he grabbed her by her breasts, so she fell on the ground. She screamed, but no one came to help her.

The driver tried to drive on but had to stop when there was another car coming from the other direction.

She said Egyptians lost their gallantry, as she fought with the driver for nearly two hours, while the pedestrians were simply watching. [Full story]

Good on you, Noha, and good on you, Judge.

Men, the next time you get what seems like an uncontrollable urge to grope a woman’s breasts or say something inappropriate, remember Sherif Gabriel and consider whether you yourself would like to be sexually harassed in prison for three years.

5 Comments »

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  1. I still don’t understand how the man could drive and grab her at the same time?

    Comment by PH — October 23, 2008 #

  2. One arm out the window in slow Cairo traffic would work. Same has happened to friends of mine.

    Comment by The Skeptic — October 23, 2008 #

  3. 5001 LE?

    Comment by MASRYMON — November 1, 2008 #

  4. […] Noha Rushdie brought her landmark sexual-harassment case to the courts, women’s rights organizations sent lawyers as representatives to the trial. […]

    Pingback by The Skeptic ?????? » Nagla vs. Noha — November 2, 2008 #

  5. […] is gratifying to see: Seventeen leading Egyptian civil-society organizations have rallied behind Noha Rushdie in the face of the smear campaign against her. Among them: the Egyptian Center for Women’s […]

    Pingback by The Skeptic ?????? » Civil Society Rallies Behind Noha — November 3, 2008 #

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