Egypt’s Prosecutor-General Launches Investigation into Fairmont Gang Rape

Archive photograph of a police officer outside a courthouse. Photo credit: AP

Egypt’s Public Prosecution announced on Wednesday evening that the Prosecutor-General has ordered an investigation into the alleged gang rape of an 18-year-old woman at the Fairmont Nile City hotel.

In a brief statement, the Public Prosecution said that it had received a file from the National Council for Women accompanied by a complaint from a young woman regarding sexual abuse in 2014 inside the Fairmont Nile City hotel. The file also consisted a number of testimonies about the alleged crime, said the statement by the Public Prosecution.

“The Prosecutor General has ordered a judicial examination of the submitted papers and an investigation into the incident, and the Public Prosecution will announce the results of the investigations at a time it deems appropriate, in order to preserve the sanctity of the investigations and their conduct”.

The announcement by the Public Prosecution comes a day after Egyptian Streets reported that multiple women had filed legal complaints in relation to the alleged gang rape at the Fairmont Nile City hotel and other related sexual crimes allegedly carried out by a number of the same perpetrators as those involved in the Fairmont Nile City hotel gang rape.

Now widely known on social media as the ‘Fairmont Incident’ and the ‘Fairmont Crime’ (جريمة الفيرمونت), the alleged gang rape of the young woman had remained unspoken about for years, only to come to light publicly after the landmark Ahmed Bassam Zaki case, which saw the alleged serial rapist and harasser arrested after being accused of rape and sexual abuse by dozens of women.

Speaking to Egyptian Streets, a number of sources confirmed the presence of a number of the alleged rapists at the scene of the alleged crime on 21 February 2014.

An investigative report by Egyptian Streets published on Tuesday 5 August revealed that the victim was drugged, repeatedly raped and degraded by a number of men. Egyptian Streets also received information that evidence has been received by lawyers in relation to at least one other alleged related rape carried out by some of the men allegedly involved in the Fairmont crime and that, as of Monday 3 August 2020, official legal complaints have been filed.

This evidence, consisting of a video recording, implicates at least two men allegedly involved in the Fairmont crime in the rape of another young, unconscious woman who for a significant period of time was unaware she had been raped.

Egyptian Streets’ full report, including information about the evidence that has come to light and details of the various sexual crimes, is available by clicking here.

Any victims of sexual crimes or domestic abuse in Egypt needing support or willing to come forward to expose their abusers can contact the National Council for Women at 15115 for assistance.