성폭력 사건이 끊이지 않 는 이집트의 대표 광장에서 압델 파타 엘시시 대통령의 취임 당일 또다시 성폭력 사건이 벌어져 파문이 일고 있다.
10일(현지시간) 일간지 알아흐람 등 현지 언론에 따르면 이집트 검찰은 지난 8 일 카이로 도심 타흐리르 광장에서 발생한 집단 성폭력 사건 용의자 7명을 체포해 수사하고 있다고 밝혔다.
당시 타흐리르 광장에서는 수만 명이 운집한 가운데 엘시시 대통령 취임을 축하 하고 기념하는 거리 행사가 열렸다.
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Egypt's Sisi faces challenge over 'sexual terrorism'
A video of a woman being sexually assaulted at inaugural celebrations for Egypt's new president has spotlighted a national epidemic, but activists believe that stopping such attacks will be difficult.
Graphic footage, apparently filmed on Sunday using a mobile phone, shows a mob of men surrounding the young woman, who was stripped of her clothes and badly bruised in the assault in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square.
The video, shared widely on websites including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, triggered outrage in Egypt and abroad.
"Execute them!" said Tuesday's front-page headline in pro-government Al-Watan newspaper.
"Sexual assaults and rapes by mobs are now part of reality. How far will things go? This is sexual terrorism," said Zeinab Sabet, a prominent activist with "Dignity Without Borders", a group battling sexual violence.
"This has been happening since 2012... The fact that it happened again (on Sunday) shows that the authorities aren't even bothered about us," she told AFP.
Washington said it was "shocked and appalled" by the "horrific" video footage and called on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to take action.
"We urge the government to make good on its promise to do whatever it takes to combat sexual harassment and implement the new law that punishes convicted harassers," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Activists say at least nine cases of sexual assault were reported last week as revellers celebrated Sisi's presidential election victory.
One woman was burned by hot water after being stripped in Tahrir Square by three men who later also assaulted her daughter, the prosecutor's office said, adding the men had been detained.
Officials on Monday said police have also arrested seven men suspected of sexually assaulting women during Sisi celebrations.
Egypt, which until this month had no specific law on sexual harassment, last week approved penalties for such offences to include jail terms, fines or both.
But these amendments "were not enough... (as) the state was incapable of addressing such crimes in the absence of a comprehensive strategy," said a group of 25 Egyptian rights organisations.
On Tuesday, the presidency said Sisi had told interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim to "implement the law firmly" to prevent sexual harassment. (AFP)
