On January 25, 2013, the second anniversary in Egypt of President Hosni Mubarak's removal from office, eighteen Egyptian women, in Tahrir Square demonstrating against the new Islamist-led government, were gang-raped. Six of the victims were hospitalized.
Rape has always been a problem for women in Egypt. Under President Mubarak, however, an omnipresent police force kept the crime behind closed doors. Islamist elected officials in the Morsi government brought back Egypt's traditional hostility toward women, particularly women who participate in politics. Quite often this hostility manifests itself in rape.
In response to the Tahrir Square sexual assaults, a police general named Adel Abdel Maqsoud Afifi said, "a girl contributes 100 percent to her own raping when she puts herself in these conditions." (Politically demonstrating in public.)
While there are no official statistics on rape in Egypt, it's an accepted fact under the new government, more women are being attacked. Rapists have also become bolder, and more violent.
Rape has always been a problem for women in Egypt. Under President Mubarak, however, an omnipresent police force kept the crime behind closed doors. Islamist elected officials in the Morsi government brought back Egypt's traditional hostility toward women, particularly women who participate in politics. Quite often this hostility manifests itself in rape.
In response to the Tahrir Square sexual assaults, a police general named Adel Abdel Maqsoud Afifi said, "a girl contributes 100 percent to her own raping when she puts herself in these conditions." (Politically demonstrating in public.)
While there are no official statistics on rape in Egypt, it's an accepted fact under the new government, more women are being attacked. Rapists have also become bolder, and more violent.
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