100 more rapes in Tahrir
Close to 100 women have fallen victim to "rampant" sexual attacks in Cairo's Tahrir Square during four days of protests against Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
"Mobs sexually assaulted and in some cases raped at least 91 women in Tahrir Square... amid a climate of impunity," HRW, which is based in New York, said in a statement.
It cited figures from the Egyptian Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault, which runs a hotline for victims of sexual assault, showing that there were 46 such attacks against women on Sunday, 17 on Monday and 23 on Tuesday.
Another women's rights group, Nazra for Feminist Studies, reported that there were another five attacks on Friday, said HRW.
The watchdog called on Egyptian officials and political leaders "across the spectrum to condemn and take immediate steps to address the horrific levels of sexual violence" in the iconic square.
"The rampant sexual attacks during the Tahrir Square protests highlight the failure of the government and all political parties to face up to the violence that women in Egypt experience on a daily basis in public spaces," said Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Middle East director.
"These are serious crimes that are holding women back from participating fully in the public life of Egypt at a critical point in the country's development."There's a much bigger problem than rape preventing women from participating in Egypt's public life. The real problem is that it shows a complete lack of respect for half the population, treating women as objects rather than as people. But then, that seems to be what Islam everywhere seems to think about women, so perhaps the problem isn't unique to Egypt - it's just most visible there.
Labels: Egypt, Egyptian treatment of women, Islamic treatment of women, religion of rape
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:28 PM
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