Probe of rape case shocks nation, ensnares many

CAIRO — An announcement last month that Egypt’s top prosecutor would investigate an alleged 2014 gang rape of a 17yearold girl at a luxury Cairo hotel marked a rare moment of triumph for human rights activists.

Those hopes were quickly dispelled after authorities detained possible witnesses and some of their acquaintances, who could face separate charges under the country’s vague morality laws. A media campaign has targeted both potential witnesses and the alleged perpetrators.

Activists say the sharp turn in the case highlights how a patriarchal legal system often blames victims of sexual violence and shames others who fall outside traditional mores, including the country’s hounded LGBT community.

In conservative Egypt, authorities present themselves as guardians of traditional values. Sexual harassment on the street remains common and women who defy conservative notions of proper behavior are widely seen as inviting or even deserving sexual abuse.

In the suspected gang rape case, potential witnesses and acquaintances have faced forced virginity tests and anal examinations by authorities as private, explicit videos have circulated via private messenger apps and were described in local media.

The government maintains it has a responsibility to investigate all criminality in the case, including the possible violation of morality laws, which include vague terms such as debauchery.

The alleged gang rape involves a group of young men from wealthy and powerful families. They allegedly drugged the teen at a party at a fivestar Cairo hotel, then took turns raping her. They wrote their initials on her body and circulated a video of the act.

Six years later, accounts of the assault surfaced amid a renewed #MeToo campaign on social media that swept Egypt this summer, encouraging more women to speak out against sexual misconduct.

On Aug. 26, almost a month after accounts of the 2014 alleged gang rape emerged on social media, Egypt’s public prosecutor announced it had identified nine suspects, but that seven had fled the country. Two others were arrested in Egypt.

Five of the seven fugitives escaped to Lebanon, where three were arrested. Two remain at large.