Public Prosecution to Appeal Court Ruling to Release 4 Accused Fairmont Rapists

Egypt’s Public Prosecution issued a statement earlier tonight saying it is appealing a court ruling to release 4 accused Fairmont rapists.

 

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This comes following media reports that the Cairo Criminal Court’s 27th circuit had ordered Ahmed Helmy Toulan and Amr Hussein released on EGP 100,000 bail. The court also reportedly ordered the release of Amir Zayed and Amr Zakaria pending investigation.

The four are among nine suspects named in an investigation into an alleged gang rape that took place at the Fairmont hotel in February 2014.

WHAT IS THE FAIRMONT CRIME?

The Fairmont crime involved the drugging and gang rape of a young woman at a private after party at the five-star Fairmont Nile City hotel. The rape was captured on video that was allegedly shared by the suspected rapists and their acquaintances. Late last month, Egypt’s Public Prosecution issued a statement calling on potential witnesses and persons of interest in the case to turn in the video of the alleged gang rape and revealed that some screenshots of the video were sent from an anonymous social media account.

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.

According to sources, many acquaintances of the alleged rapists were reportedly aware of sexual crimes committed by the accused gang rapists, but remained silent – some out of fear and others out of solidarity.

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 Tuesday 4 August 2020, official legal complaints have been filed.