Women around the Islamic world are routinely given jail time for reporting their own rapes…
Egyptian activist Amal Fathy sentenced to jail for sexual harassment video
Campaigner arrested in May after she uploaded a video to Facebook detailing how she was harassed during a visit to her bank
The Egyptian activist Amal Fathy, who posted a video on Facebook alleging sexual harassment, has been given a two-year suspended jail sentence on charges of spreading false news and possessing indecent material.
Fathy, who has already spent 141 days in prison, was sentenced on Saturday to one year in jail for each charge, and given a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($560) for making “public insults”.
“We will challenge the ruling,” her lawyer Doaa Mustafa told the AFP news agency, adding that Fathy could pay 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,120) to have her sentence suspended.
However, Fathy is still in detention awaiting trial in another case in which she is accused of “membership in a terrorist group”, her lawyer added.
In the 12-minute video uploaded in May, Fathy explained how she was sexually harassed twice on the same day and criticises the Egyptian government for its lack of progress on addressing the issue.
In the first instance, she says, she was harassed by a taxi driver who “kept adjusting his mirror to look at me and made disgusting comments towards me”.
Fathy, 33, also describes how a bank adviser sexually harassed her while trying to sort out a credit issue.