Sexual Harassment Court Case

Talks about the recent case of Noha Rushdie, who finally managed to raise a lawsuit against a harasser. The text below is the press release circulated by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights--good read and gives some background.

PS: It was also on the front page of Al Ahram a couple of days ago (displayed proudly of course).

Court Sentence Restores Women's Confidence in the Law (Cairo, October 22, 2008)

ECWR is pleased with the sentence of 3 years of imprisonment and interim compensation of 5001 LE for the indecent assault of 27-year old Noha Rushdie, which was issued yesterday by the Cairo Criminal Court. This sentence sends a message to all segments of Egyptian society that sexual harassment is a crime and will not be tolerated. Within the legal community, the court's decision restores confidence in Egyptian law's ability to appropriately address such crimes. The sentence will also encourage participation in the dialogue on developing a legal definition of sexual harassment and the need to formulate laws criminalizing it in the Egyptian Penal Code. For women, the success of the victim in this case will encourage others to report incidences of sexual harassment. For potential harassers, the sentence will deter them from abusing women's rights to personal safety and freedom from sexual harassment. According to a recent study conducted by ECWR, only 2.4% of the 1010 women surveyed who experience sexual harassment filed reports of the incident. ECWR believes that this sentence will restore confidence in the legal system's ability to defend women subjected to such crimes, in every step of the process - from filing police reports, to investigation, to sentencing. Women can now rest assured that their rights will be protected.

While stressing the importance of enforcing the law, ECWR would also like to:

• Applaud the family of the victim, Noha Rushdie, for their consistent and unwavering support throughout this process
• Encourage all women who are subjected to sexual harassment to report the incident immediately, to be confident that all law enforcement officials are both willing and able to tackle the issue of sexual harassment, and to insist that their rights be recognized
• Demand that the Egyptian Parliament immediately issue legislation addressing sexual harassment in all its forms -- whether it be committed by individuals or groups, in the street or in the workplace -- to ensure that law enforcement officials are fully supported by the law as they work to eliminate this phenomenon