Egypt’s Criminal Court in Tanta sentenced three men on Tuesday, 10 May to 15 years in jail, and two others to five years in jail for blackmailing an Egyptian girl, Basant Khaled, with explicit images. The five men are charged with several crimes, including blackmailing a minor with explicit images, invasion of privacy, cyber extortion, human trafficking by publishing the explicit images with the intent of forcing her to engage in ‘immoral acts’, sexual assault, and force or threat of force by threatening to publish the explicit images. Early in January, news broke out that 17-year-old Basant Khaled from the village of Kafr El Zayat died by suicide after she was blackmailed with photoshopped pictures online. Village residents from stated that Khaled’s blackmailer published fabricated explicit photos of Basant after she refused their sexual advances. Basant left a handwritten letter to her family saying “Mom, believe me, the girl in those pictures is not me. These pictures were photoshopped. I swear! I’m a young girl, Mom, and I don’t deserve all that’s happening to me. I’m suffering from depression, and I feel like I’m suffocating. I’m really tired. It’s not…
Men Who Blackmailed Egyptian Girl to Suicide Get 15 Years in Jail
May 11, 2022
