Morsi orders sex assaults probe

Egypt’s president has ordered his interior minister to investigate a rash of sex assaults during a just-completed Muslim holiday.

Mohammed Morsi acted after his government reported 735 police complaints about sexual harassment over the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday, which ended yesterday.

Mr Morsi stressed the need to fight “all phenomena of moral chaos and abuses, especially harassment in Egyptian streets,” spokesman Yasser Ali said in a statement.

The holiday features celebrations, crowded public squares – and widespread harassment of women by men.

Rights activists have faulted Mr Morsi’s Islamist government for failing to take action against the wave of sexual assaults.

Earlier this month, around 200 activists gathered outside the presidential palace, chanting slogans against Mr Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood pressing for a law to criminalise harassment.

Mr Morsi’s order appeared to be an attempt to counter the charges of activists.

Complaints about the problem, which has long been a feature of Egypt’s society, gained prominence during last year’s popular uprising that unseated long-time President Hosni Mubarak. Women activists and reporters told of severe assaults by men in Tahrir Square, the focus of the mass protests.

Activists say little, if anything, has changed.

A prominent activist, Azza Suleiman, told the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper that her two sons were assaulted in central Cairo during the holiday while trying to protect a group of foreigners, while police stood by watching the incident. She criticised the police and the Interior Ministry for failing to secure the crowded streets.

Tahrir Square, the centre of last year’s uprising, has been the scene of a number of assaults against women – both protesters and journalists – in the aftermath of the revolution. Earlier this month, a correspondent for France 24 TV was “savagely attacked” near Tahrir after being seized by a crowd, the network said.

Last week, Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil condemned sexual harassment in remarks on his Facebook page, calling it a “catastrophe” that threatens society. Mr Qandil said the Cabinet was preparing a law to impose harsher penalties for sexual harassment.