In landmark ruling, hotel manager sentenced for discrimination against women after refusing single-room booking

A Port Said court ruled on Monday in favor of journalist Alaa Saad, after she sued a hotel manager who refused to let her book a single room as an unaccompanied woman. The landmark decision against the widespread practice, which followed an online campaign spearheaded by Saad and civil society groups, is the first ever implementation of the anti-discriminatory penalties in Egyptian law in a case related to discrimination against women, Saad’s lawyer Fatma Serag and head of the New Woman Foundation, which provided legal support for the case, Nevine Ebaid told Mada Masr. “I see the ruling as a huge victory, not just for my case, but for every Egyptian woman who has been subjected to this kind of discrimination and didn’t know how to get her rights or pursue paths of accountability,” Saad told Mada Masr. Saad decided to sue the manager of the Utopia Al-Safwa Hotel in Port Said for discrimination and violation of her rights in January, after she tried to book a single room and was informed that the hotel policy does not allow women to book single rooms. When the case finally reached the East Port Said Misdemeanor Court in March, it acquitted the defendant and ordered Saad to pay the legal fees. Litigants cannot appeal misdemeanor rulings, but the prosecution decided in early April to appeal the decision in Saad’s case. The East Port Said Misdemeanor Appeals Court accepted the appeal on Monday and issued an initial ruling sentencing the hotel manager in absentia to one year in prison and a fine of LE50,000 for the charge of discrimination against Saad, the journalist told Mada Masr. The owner will have the right to appeal the ruling. “Despite the obstacles over the past months since we started this journey of litigation,” said Saad, “the ruling came to truly crown this journey with a legal precedent for any similar discrimination incident, paving the way to completely end this practice by hotels.” Women traveling alone, unaccompanied by their husbands or a male relative, are frequently denied access to make reservations in hotels and hostels across the country. Two lawyers had challenged the practice’s legality before the administrative court in 2022. The court dismissed the case since the interior and tourism ministries denied they had issued any instructions to that effect; the latter attributed the practice to the policies of some hotels. But the practice continued with no action by authorities to limit or penalize the widespread practice. Aware of the 2022 effort, Saad decided to pick up where the old case left off. But she faced several hurdles in her legal journey. The Public Prosecution at first claimed to have no jurisdiction over the hotel to investigate the case, before relenting and referring it to the East Port Said Misdemeanor Court, where the claim was put forward that the hotel was discriminating against women. The court had acquitted the hotel manager on March 10 on the grounds that no discrimination against women occurred since the hotel allows women accompanied by men to stay. Things turned around when the Public Prosecution decided to appeal the decision, leading to today’s first of its kind ruling. It is uncommon that the prosecution would appeal a misdemeanor ruling, as they tend to only appeal felonies, Ebaid explained. But the widespread interest and support for the case made a difference this time. Saad has written extensively about the case and spoken about it to many media outlets since its beginning, garnering a significant following. Another factor is the wide support she received from civil society groups, who put together a joint statement launching a campaign against the discriminatory practice, signed by dozens of NGOs and public figures, Ebaid noted. She also noted the interest that the National Council for Women took in the case, as they contacted Saad’s legal team after the first court decision to acquit the hotel manager. Ebaid and Serag agreed that the decision is historic. They still await the full text of the judge’s decision and reasoning, but Ebaid said that the legal team based their arguments on the hotel practice being in violation of Article 161-bis of the Penal Code, which punishes discrimination based on gender, race and religion, among other factors, with the penalties ruled against the hotel manager. Serag said that Monday’s decision is the first ever implementation of this article in a case related to discrimination against women. The hotel manager will likely appeal the in-absentia sentence and receive a lighter one, but Saad and her advocates say the victory is in the legal acknowledgment of the discrimination. Ebaid stressed that the aim is not to imprison the manager. She hopes instead for the establishment of an anti-discrimination commission, as dictated by the 2014 Constitution, a significant pending gap in national anti-discrimination legislation. Such a commission, “may provide alternative penalties like social interventions, away from infringing on rights,” she explained. Saad’s advocacy team see Monday’s ruling as an important first step toward establishing a new basis to activate and expand anti-discriminatory legislation. Serag explained: “I think this ruling will heavily reinforce the demands of feminist institutions, who have been pressing since 2014, asking for the commission.” *** *Correction: This text has been amended to reflect that Nevine Ebaid is the head of the New Woman Foundation, an advocacy NGO supporting women which provides legal support in the case. An earlier version of the published text incorrectly stated that Nevine Ebaid is a lawyer. The post In landmark ruling, hotel manager sentenced for discrimination against women after refusing single-room booking first appeared on Mada Masr .