EIPR calls on prosecution to appeal acquittal of ‘bus harassment’ defendant

The Moqattam Misdemeanor Court acquitted a defendant on charges of sexual harassment on Tuesday, shutting the door on the legal track pursued by Mariam Shawky after she published footage of the incident to document the harassment, prompting a viral response to the case. The ruling came despite investigations proving that the defendant repeatedly harassed her multiple times over several days in February, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). EIPR, which joined Shawky’s legal team in Case 2014/2026, called on Wednesday for the Public Prosecution to appeal the Moqattam court ruling. Only the state prosecutor is legally empowered to appeal rulings from the misdemeanor courts. Shawky was subjected to three incidents of verbal harassment and assault on the road she takes to work in Maadi, Cairo, all by the same man, according to the testimony she posted on her TikTok and Instagram accounts on February 8. The testimony and a separate video she took of her confrontation with a man on a public bus both went viral, garnering a wave of support but also a barrage of online harassment. EIPR’s Women’s Rights and Gender Program Director Lobna Darwish told Mada Masr she believes that “the verdict is very negative for women, not only because it says that women’s protection in public spaces is not guaranteed, but also because it says that confronting these difficult situations of assault and defamation campaigns will not get them anywhere.” The prosecution’s investigations confirmed that the defendant had harassed Shawky by addressing her with obscene language, EIPR stated . However, lawyer Aziza al-Tawil told Mada Masr that Shawky’s defense team still awaits the release of the reasoning behind the verdict, which is expected to be issued within two weeks, to review the grounds for the acquittal. Tawil noted, however, that in many misdemeanor cases in recent years, the documents often state only the verdict itself, without explaining the legal reasoning for the court’s decision. According to EIPR, the prosecution charged the perpetrator with assailment, an act punishable under the Penal Code, which criminalizes harassing another person in a public or private place by engaging in sexual or obscene acts, suggestions or innuendos, whether through gestures, words or actions by any means. The penalty is two to four years imprisonment and/or a fine of LE100,000 to LE200,000. If the act is repeated by stalking or harassing the victim, the penalty is increased to three to five years and/or a fine of LE200,000 to LE300,000. In the case of an additional repeat offense, both the minimum and maximum penalties of imprisonment and fine are doubled. Shawky’s lawyers pointed to the burden borne by her and other defendants in similar cases to supply sound legal evidence to support investigations, since most of the evidence in such cases is testimonial. During the course of the investigation, which was amplified in media coverage given the case’s virality, the defendant was granted so much space to defend himself in local media that the Supreme Media Regulation Council intervened to underline prohibitions on media interventions that could influence legal proceedings. The council’s intervention came after the defendant and his father were invited to appear on a TV program on the privately owned Al-Hadath Al-Youm channel to defend their case and attack Shawky. The show’s host and the defendant were banned from appearing on TV until the conclusion of the prosecution’s investigations into the case. Shawky meanwhile was subjected to a wave of victim-blaming in the media. Twelve NGOs previously issued a joint statement warning of a significant escalation in public and systematic campaigns across some media outlets and social media platforms aimed at justifying sexual harassment crimes and blaming survivors. The statement considered this a blatant violation of the rights of women and girls and an undermining of years of national efforts, both independent and official, to combat gender-based violence. The post EIPR calls on prosecution to appeal acquittal of ‘bus harassment’ defendant first appeared on Mada Masr .