User:Sywarren/Women in Egypt

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=== Sexual violence[edit] === In December 2011, the Cairo Administrative court ruled that forced virginity tests on females in military prisons were illegal. The case involved Samira Ibrahim who participated at a sit-in at Tahrir Square on March 9, 2011. Ibrahim described the degrading experience of having a virginity test be conducted on her in front of military soldiers. Several other female protestors received similar treatment. In is World Report 2020, the Human Rights Watch reported that virginity tests still occurred in the country.

In August 2021, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ratified law amendments to tighten the imprisonment term and the fine imposed on sexual harassment. However, Sisi's recent ratification is dismissed in a 2022 court case against famous Egyptian actor Shady Khalaf, who was charged with only 3 years of prison sentencing for his sexual assault and attempted rapes on "seven women at an acting workshop." Also, in January of 2022, a female film director, Aida el-Kashef, was involved in a court case against her in which the defendant was accused of defamation for condemning the actions of a male film director, Islam Azazi, who was involved with several sexual violence cases that came out against him through social media.

Sexual violence against LGBTQ Egyptians
With the rise of LGBTQ rallies and protests in Egypt, a light is also being shed on the rise of sexual violence against the community. Egypt also has a ninth Article in its Penal code that deems homosexuality a criminal act and punishment for it an imprisonment "from 6 months to three years" and the person convicted can end up staying in person for up to 12 years depending on their act of "habitual debauchery." In 2015, a Harvard paper written on the topic of LGBTQ members in Egypt suggests that the reasonings behind the country's resentment towards the community is that the country is "largely conservative" and that the hatred is "rooted in societal gender and sexual norms."

In 2017, it was reported that "dozens" of LGBTQ Egyptians were arrested under the government of el-Sisi, and were charged for "sexual deviance," "insulting public morals," and "debauchery" and arrested due to those charges. Also, on October of that same year, an Egyptian member of the Parliament put forth the introduction of a bill that "criminalizes homosexuality" and a total of 60 members were ready to approve it as they signed it.

In 2020, a "crackdown" of LGBTQ members in Egypt began by the government. Police forces "entraped" members of the community through "social networking sites and dating applications" and gave them "harsh prison sentences." The detainees were a subject of "verbal and physical abuse" by police, and were given "forced anal exams" and "virginity tests." One woman reported that, due to the sexual abuse she endured from police, she "bled for three days and could not walk for weeks." Some detainees also claimed that the police allowed other inmates to abuse and torture them.

Honor killings[edit]
Honor killings take place in Egypt relatively frequently, due to reasons such as a woman meeting an unrelated man, even if this is only an allegation; or adultery (real or suspected). For example, in 2021, a man was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for thinking his sister's behavior was "suspicious" and murdering her––a murder to which he claimed was an "honor killing."

Honor killings are also listed in the Egyptian Penal Code, under Article 237, in which courts are allowed to be more lenient in their sentencing for honor killings made by men who catch their wives committing adultery. However, the same leniency is not granted for women under the Article