As Alaa Saad was walking along a street in Giza, outside Cairo, two years ago, a young man suddenly began shouting abuse at her. Contrary to what men usually expect in such situations – for the woman to carry on walking pretending not to hear – Alaa stopped, grabbed hold of the man, and, with the help of locals gathered at the scene, took him to the police station.

As Alaa Saad was walking along a street in Giza, outside Cairo, two years ago, a young man suddenly began shouting abuse at her. Contrary to what men usually expect in such situations – for the woman to carry on walking pretending not to hear – Alaa stopped, grabbed hold of the man, and, with the help of locals gathered at the scene, took him to the police station.

At first police officers refused to record Alaa’s – and mocked her instead. “What is his crime?” one officer asked sarcastically. Another advised her, “If you file a complaint, he will only be in jail for two days, but you will be humiliated too, and will have to ride in a police car. It’s not worth it.”

Alaa’s complaint was finally recorded – but only because of her persistence. She believes the way police officers deal with sexual harassment exacerbates the problem. “Fortunately, a more respectful district attorney took my case and insisted on prosecuting the assaulter,” says Alaa.

Against all expectations, the court sentenced Alaa’s assaulter to a year in prison. But the number of harassment convictions is much lower than the complaints filed – and of course it doesn’t include the many more cases where the victim does not file a complaint at all.

Breaking records

Harassment rates in Egypt have reached unprecedented levels. As many as 83 percent of Egyptian women – and 98 percent of foreign women visitors – have been subjected to at least one form of sexual harassment, according to a 2013 report by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights.

Another study published in April by the Egyptian government’s Institute of National Planning and UN Women (the United Nations’ gender equality organization) found that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced sexual harassment. Meanwhile half are sexually harassed on a daily basis, and three out of four women every week.

Rare verdict

“The verdict in Alaa’s case is a rare one because the problem with verbal harassment cases is that they require more than simply a witness who has actually heard what the assaulter said,” says Mustafa Mahmud, a lawyer and human rights activist at the feminist studies institute Nazra. “There were no witnesses in this case because society is very lenient when it comes to harassment, which results in most cases being lost or rejected. This time, however, the judge examined the case documents very well, listened to the arguments, and then issued his verdict.”

The problem has prompted many to call for new laws. The Egyptian government declared last month that the Justice Ministry was developing a new bill in collaboration with Egypt’s National Council for Women that would clamp down on sexual harassment. This bill is only awaiting approval by the president before passing into law.

Expanded definition

Among other things, the new legislation aims to define harassment more exactly, so as to facilitate convictions more easily. “According to the amendment of the provisions on harassment, there will be penalties for imprisonment and fines for verbal as well as physical harassment,” says Sekina Fouad, the president’s advisor on women’s affairs. “The new law states that harassment includes stalking by modern technological as well as traditional methods, as well as abuses by employers or superiors.” The draft Harassment Law proposes fines of 10,000-20,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,400-$2,800), or at least a year in prison, and longer jail sentences for re-offenders.

But the draft law has been criticized by some civil society organizations. “It is disappointing,” says Nazra director Mazn Hassan. “It alone cannot solve the problem of sexual harassment. There is a need to develop a national strategy to control violence against women through multiple mechanisms – with participation from women’s organizations like the NCW, as well as the Justice, Health, Education, and Interior Ministries.”

Fathi Farid, coordinator of the “Shoft Ta7rosh” (“I Saw Harassment”) initiative attributes the high harassment rates to poorly trained policemen and their inability to deal with such problems. Farid also think that the Interior Ministry does not consider sexual violence a crime in the first place, but as mere bad social behavior – and in some cases it does not even recognize its existence.

“According to the law, a victim must provide two witnesses and full information about the culprit, or she must bring him to a police station. How on earth can she do that?” asks Farid. “Moreover, the law officially labels such harassment as ‘disgracing a female’ or ‘molesting her in public’, which makes many victims abstain from reporting their cases, for fear of hurting their reputation.”

Farid believes the state has to come up with new solutions to protect women from harassment, perhaps including installing CCTV cameras on the streets.

A first step

“This law is only a first step,” says Justice Ahmad Surgani, the deputy justice minister responsible for human rights, in response to the criticisms. He points out that this is the first time that Egyptian law has defined sexual harassment as a crime: “This definition has not been in place before.”

Surgani also said there was a proposal for a “Harassment Victim Rehabilitation Fund,” to be set up in partnership with several agencies, including the NCW and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood. This fund, says Surgani, will deal with all forms of violence against women, such as forced and early marriages as well as sexual exploitation.

He also said that the Justice Ministry’s human rights department is calling on the Interior Ministry to establish a specialized sexual harassment unit at each police station: “This unit should have at least one policewoman with legal experience to receive complaints and provide victims with counseling – especially since cases of sexual violence are complex and require a special sensitivity towards victims.”