2 human rights lawyers face misconduct claims

CAIRO — Accusations of sexual misconduct directed at two prominent human rights lawyers in Egypt — one of them a former presidential hopeful — have roiled the country’s beleaguered civil society, which is already under unrelenting pressure from authorities.

The allegations, directed at former presidential hopeful Khaled Ali and another lawyer, were made in a private email sent by a woman in October that has since been widely shared on social media. Many have cast it as part of the global #MeToo campaign against sexual assault and misconduct, while accusing the activist community of closing ranks to avoid embarrassment.

The woman, currently living in Europe, has declined to give media interviews and has not filed a complaint with authorities. The Associated Press does not publicly identify victims of sexual assault and is not naming the second lawyer because no formal complaint has been made against him.

In the email, the woman alleged that Ali invited her to his downtown Cairo office in 2015 after other employees had gone home. The woman, who had recently quit her job at the rights organization founded and led by Ali, said he offered her a beer before he left to shower next door. When he came back, he asked her personal questions about two of her past relationships, she said.

“I finish the beer and tell him I need to leave because I have an appointment in the morning,” she recounted in the email. “He tries to convince me to stay over and that it’s getting late. I tell him no, I prefer to go,” she wrote. She said she left without further incident.

She said the other lawyer, who specializes in women’s rights, had suggested she spend the night at his place after an evening of heavy drinking at a downtown bar with friends in 2014. She said she took him up on the offer because she was drunk, and that he raped her that night.

She said she has been in therapy to deal with the trauma, and that her email was meant as a warning to women employed by rights groups. Two of her friends, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve her privacy, said she told them she decided to break her silence when she learned that Ali planned to run for president.

The lawyer denied the rape allegation in a phone interview with the AP, saying he had “consensual” sex with the woman. In the email, she acknowledged having consensual sex with him after the alleged rape.

Ali declared his intention to run for president in November but quit in January, citing intimidation by authorities.