Probe into alleged 2014 gang rape at luxury hotel

CAIRO: Egypt’s public prosecutor has ordered an investigation into a gang rape allegation at a luxury hotel in Cairo in 2014 that only surfaced on social media last month.

“The Public Prosecution received a letter from the National Council for Women, accompanied by a complaint filed by one of the women who endured sexual abuse by several people at the

Fairmont Nile City Hotel in Cairo in 2014,” the public prosecutor said.

Attached to the complaint “were testimonies from people with knowledge about the incident”, the statement added.

The results of the investigations would be announced “in due time”.

The alleged assault, which took place at a five-star Cairo hotel, involved a group of six men said to have drugged and raped a young woman, according to social media accounts.

Names and pictures of the accused, who hail from wealthy families, have circulated widely online but their authenticity has not been verified.

Egypt’s National Council for Women condemned retaliatory threats made last week against women exposing sexual misconduct. The council “stands by every woman and girl exposed to any ... threat by providing all necessary support”, it said.

In a statement last week, the Fairmont Hotel said it had conducted an internal investigation.

It found, however, “that at no time were any reports of the incident filed to the hotel, nor to the hotel’s tourism police”.

The allegations come as part of a resurgent #Metoo wave in the deeply conservative country, in which campaigners seek to hold sexual predators accountable for their actions.

A 2013 study by UN Women found that 99% of women in Egypt had at some point in their lives been sexually harassed, either verbally or physically.