Perpetrators of sexual harassment in 340 incidents, mostly verbal, have been released because no girls arrived to sign police reports, Youm7 reported Tuesday.
The Morality Police issued 340 reports during the first day of Eid al-Fitr; most of the perpetrators are boys and teens. The department also commended the work of I Saw Harassment, a grassroots movement that releases reports on sexual harassment and includes volunteers that intervene in such cases on streets.
Several Egyptian anti-harassment groups, such as Harassmap, I Saw Harassment and Cairo Center for Development have reiterated that girls refuse to report sexual harassment in fear of stigma, their families, and disclosure of their information.
Sexual harassment is particularly rampant in Cairo during feasts.
A report released by the United Nations in June 2013 found that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women had been sexually harassed in any form, verbally or physically.
According to a 2014 report issued by Egypt’s Population Council, sexual harassment among girls aged 13-17 hiked from 46.4 percent in 2009 to 49.5 percent in 2014.
The punishment for sexual harassers was toughened under amendments adopted by former interim President Adly Mansour, and assaulters now face up to five years in prison.
