After weeks of calls for action on social media, Egypt’s public prosecution has issued arrest warrants for the perpetrators of the Fairmont Incident.
The news was announced on the prosecution’s official Facebook account on Monday. The prosecution also banned them from leaving the country.
Now widely known on social media as the ‘Fairmont Incident’ and the ‘Fairmont Crime’ (جريمةالفيرمونت), 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.
The 2014 incident saw the drugging and raping of a victim in a private after party in famed hotel Fairmont. It was captured on video although witnesses and acquaintances of the perpetrators kept silent about both silent and video out of solidarity, for years.
Earlier this month, Egypt’s Public Prosecution announced on Wednesday evening that the Prosecutor-General has ordered an investigation into the alleged gang rape of the 18-year-old victim.
Although harassment and rape cases are not rare in Egypt, this case in particular, which was followed closely by Egypt’s National Council for Women, is one of the most controversial to have emerged in recent years.
Recent rape and harassment allegations have pushed a local movement to denounce perpetrators online, namely on Facebook and Instagram. One such account was Assault Police, managed by young student Nadeen Ashraf.
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.
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