Browsing the internet, we came across this monster house listed for sale in Obour City. Anyone got 4.2 million LE spare?
Often, when we pass derelict housing areas or deserted buildings, on the edge of the city, we wonder what it might be like to buy a house, pimp it out, and turn it into some sort of minimal, modern art-deco tower amongst the sepia sea of unfinished buildings. At no point did we ever think to turn one into this...
The villa, which is listed for 4.2 million LE on Dubizzle.com, looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie, and features primitive gothic elements, as well as garish focal points, like a massive Lord of The Rings-style eye and jungle scene. There are dinosaurs in the eye. The gates look like pirate ship wheels. There's just weird shit everywhere. Ahhhh! What is this place?
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Unfortunately we could not contact the owner for comment but if you have 4.2 million LE lying around and always fancied yourself to own a crib that Dali would be proud of, we suggest you find out more about this 12 bedroom monster house in Obour. House warming party?
الحقيقـة أنا كنت بتضايق من الـ بيكلم ويقول مصـر وبلد بنت تيت وليه كدا وأحنا مش عايشين
أممم طب تعالوا نتناقش شويـة . .
عارف مصر يا حبيب قلبي مصنفة الأخيرة في مستوي المعيشة رقم 148 في مستوي جودة التعليم نسبة الـ بيحصلوا علي أقل من 2 دولار 43.9 من نسبة السكان من أسواء الدول في الرعاية الصحية وقلة الإهتمام بالمستشفيات والوحدات الصحية من أسواء الدول في حقوق الإنسان من أسواء الدول تطبيقاً للقانون في مصر ليس هُناك ما يسمي بحرية الأعتقاد في مصر لايوجد ما يُسمي بالحوار في مصر لايوجد ما يُسمي بالرأي والرأي الأخر في مصر من يطيل شعرة فهو شاذ ومن يطيل لحيته فهو مؤمن ومتدين من تردي نقاب فهي شريفة ومن تردي فستان فهي عاهرة
ر من الممكن أن تُشاهد معلبات بشرية داخل علبة كبيرة وهي الأتوبيس
في مصر فقـط نسمع كلمة قطة بلدي وكلب بلدي في الدول المتقدمة لا وجود لمثل تلك الأشياء في مصر فقط هُناك من يمتهن التسول في مصر فقط لا لن تسطيع النجاح دراسياً إلا بأخذ دروس خصوصية أو حفظ ما في الكتب كأسمك دون إستخدام عقلك . . في مصر فقط تجد من يقول أديك في الأرض تفحر أديك في السقف تمحر فنان عظيم ومشهور في مصر فقط لايوجد مراحض عموميه إلا في بعض المناطق الراقيه في مصر فـقط يتحدث المشايخ عن الطب والعلم والخياطة والطبخ وأي شئ في مصر فقط يعمل المهندس سائق تاكسي في مصر فقط لا تستطيع الزواج إلا أن كنت من أثرياء القوم في مصر فقط أن خالفت المجتمع تكن مجنون وأن تغيرت قواعدك تُصبح شاذ وإن تحدثت في الدين فأنت مُلحد
ولكن لا تحزن عزيزي فـمصر متفوقه بعض الشئ فهي الثانية علي مستوي العالم في نسبة التحرش الجنسي في عام 2008 وصل ختان الإنسان في الريف والحضر إلي نسبة 91 % وحالياً زاد بالطبع عدد أطفال الشوارع وصل إلي 3 مليون طفل شوارع وفي تزايد مستمر عدد سكان المقابر 4 مليون مصرى!! بلادي بلادي بلادي
In November 2011, after I joined a protest
on Mohamed Mahmoud Street in Cairo with a friend, Egyptian riot police
beat me – breaking my left arm and right hand – and sexually assaulted
me. I was also detained by the interior minister and military
intelligence for 12 hours.
After I was released, it took all I had
not to cry when I saw the look on the face of a very kind woman I'd
never met before, except on Twitter, who came to pick me up and take me
to the emergency room for medical attention. (She is now a cherished
friend.)
As I described to the female triage nurse what had had happened to me, she stopped at "and they sexually assaulted me" to ask:
how could you let them do that to you? Why didn't you resist?
-->
It
had been about 14 or 15 hours since riot police had attacked me; I just
wanted to be X-rayed to see if they had broken anything. Both arms
looked like the Elephant Man's limbs. I explained to the nurse that when
you're surrounded by four or five riot police, whacking at you with
their night sticks, there isn't much "resisting" one can do.
I've
been thinking a lot about that exchange with the nurse. Whenever I read
the ghastly toll of how many women were sexually assaulted during last
week's protests against Mohamed Morsiin Tahrir Square, I have to wonder about such harshness after brutality.
Activists
with grassroots groups on the ground who intervene to extricate women
from sexual violence in Tahrir said they documented more than 100 cases;
several were mob assaults, several requiring medical attention. One
woman was raped with a sharp object. I hope none was asked "why didn't
you resist?"
This isn't an essay on how Egyptian regimes like
Mubarak's targeted female activists and journalists as a political ploy.
Nor is it about how regimes like Morsi's largely ignored sexual
violence, and even when it did acknowledge it, blamed women for bringing
assaults upon themselves. Nor is it an article about how such assaults
and such refusal to hold anyone accountable have given a green light to
our abusers that women's bodies are fair game. Nor will I tell you that –
were it not for the silence and denial surrounding sexual assault in Egypt – such assaults would not be enacted so frequently on women's bodies on the Egyptian streets.
I
don't know who is behind those mob assaults in Tahrir, but I do know
that they would not attack women if they didn't know they would get away
with it and that the women would always be asked "why didn't you
resist?"
From the ground up, we need a national campaign against
sexual violence in Egypt. It must push whoever we elect to govern Egypt next, as well as our legislators, to take sexual assaults more
seriously.
If our next president chooses – as Morsi did – to
address the nation from a stage in Tahrir Square for the inauguration,
let him (or her) salute the women who turned out in their thousands upon
thousands in that same square, knowing they risked assaults and yet
refusing to be pushed out of public space. The square's name literally
means "liberation", and it will be those women who, in spite of the risk
of sexual violence, will have helped to enable his (or her) presence
there as the new president of Egypt.
Undoubtedly, the Egyptian
interior ministry needs reform, especially when it comes to how it deals
with sexual assault. The police rarely, if ever, intervene, or make
arrests, or press charges. It was, after all, the riot police themselves
who assaulted me. Their supervising officer even threatened me with
gang rape as his conscripts continued their assault of me in front of him.
-->
Any
woman who ends up in the ER room deserves much better than "why didn't
you resist?" Nurses and doctors need training in how best to care for
survivors of sexual assault and how to gather evidence.Female
police units are said to have been introduced at various precincts, but
they need training. They also need rape kits – in the unlikely event any
woman actually gathers herself enough to report rape in Egypt. When I
was reporting on sexual violence in Cairo in the 1990s, several
psychiatrists told me their offices were the preferred destination for
women who had survived sexual violence, be it at home or on the streets,
because they feared being violated again in police stations.
While
that fear is still justifiable today, something has begun to change:
more and more women are willing to go public to recount their assaults. I
salute those women's courage, but I wonder where they find comfort and
support after their retelling is over. PTSD therapy is not readily
available in Egypt. We need to train more of our counsellors to offer it
to those who want it.
We need to recruit popular football and
music stars in advertising campaigns: huge, presidential election
campaign style billboards across bridges and buildings – addressing men
with clear anti-sexual violence messages, for example – as well as
television and radio spots. Culture itself has a role to play in
changing this culture: puppet theatre and other arts indigenous to Egypt
can help break the taboo of speaking out; and we need more TV shows and
films that tackle sexual assaults in their storylines.
There is
an innate and burning desire for justice in Egypt. Revolutions will do
that. We need to coordinate efforts and aim high to ensure such a
campaign meets the needs of girls and women across the country, not just
Cairo and the big cities.
In January 2012, I spent a few days
with a fierce 13-year-old girl we'll call Yasmine, for a documentary
film, on which I was a writer, called Girl Rising. The film paired nine
female writers with girls each from their country of birth whose stories
they recounted to illustrate the importance of girls' education.
Five
months before we met, Yasmine had survived a rape. My arms were still
broken and in casts when we met and I naively considered removing the
casts and pretending I was OK in order to "protect her". I did not want
her to think that 30 years down the line, at my age, she could still be
subject to such violation.
She certainly did not need my
protection and I'm glad I kept my casts on, because as soon as we met,
she simply and forthrightly told me:
I'm going to open my heart to you and you're going to open your heart to me, OK?
She
then went on to recount what happened to her. I admired her courage and
her insistence on going to the police with her mother to report the
rape. She was lucky she found an understanding police officer who took
her complaint seriously.
When I told her what had happened to me,
she was shocked that it was police who'd attacked me. "Have you reported
what happened to you? Have you taken them to court?" she asked me.
Yasmine has not had a single day of formal education. She believed she deserved justice. We all do.
The army's deadline to the political powers or rather the Muslim
brotherhood will be and it will force its own road map on everybody.
Today is extremely important thus I will use again live blogging once again to keep with what taking place in the country.
Airport sources say 48 member of muslim brotherhood banned from travel. Private jets banned from takeoff. #egypt
— ▲Samy قائد (@samy_qaid) July 3, 2013
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has warned that continuing unrest is "threatening to paralyse the country".
In a televised speech marking his first year in office, Morsi said he had made some "mistakes" since becoming president.
Troops have been deployed across Egyptian cities ahead of planned weekend protests demanding his removal.
Ahead of Mr Morsi's speech, deadly clashes broke out in the northern city of Mansoura.
Two people were killed and 170 injured in fighting between
supporters and opponents of the government, a health ministry spokesman
told the BBC.
Morsi took power on 30 June 2012. His first year in office
has been marred by constant political unrest and a sinking economy. 'Radical measures'
Speaking on Wednesday evening, President Morsi promised to introduce immediate and radical reforms in state institutions.
He said the polarisation of politics in Egypt had reached the stage where it risked destabilising the entire nation. Morsi added that he had done "his best to evaluate the situation" during the past year.
"I was right in some cases, and wrong in other cases," Morsi said.
"I have discovered after a year in charge that for the revolution to achieve its goals, it needs radical measures.
"Every revolution has enemies and every nation has
challenges," he said, adding that he would "build on the positives and
address the negatives".
-->
Morsi's year in review
June 2012 - Narrowly wins presidential election. Orders parliament to meet in defiance of a military decree dissolving it
July 2012 - Submits to a Supreme Court ruling that the parliamentary elections were invalid
August 2012 - Dismisses Defence Minister
Hussein Tantawi and Chief of Staff Sami Annan and strips military of say
in legislation and drafting the new constitution
November 2012 - Rescinds a decree stripping the judiciary of the right to challenge his decisions, after popular protests
December 2012 - Public vote approves draft constitution boosting the role of Islam and restricting freedom of speech and assembly
March 2013 - Court halts his plans to bring
parliamentary elections forward to April, citing failure to refer the
electoral law to the Constitutional Court
June 2013 - Puts Islamist in charge of 13 of
Egypt's 27 governorships - controversially he appoints a member of the
former armed group Gamaa Islamiya to be governor of Luxor
-->
But despite Morsi's initial
conciliatory tone, the speech swiftly moved into a condemnation of named
people he blamed for Egypt's problems, the BBC's Aleem Maqbool,judges and a journalist figured among those criticised, our correspondent says.
Anti-government supporters had gathered in the capital's
Tahrir Square and outside the defence ministry ahead of Morsi's
speech.
The head of the army earlier warned it would not allow Egypt to slip into "uncontrollable conflict".
Soldiers have been stationed in areas of the capital, Cairo,
where pro-Morsi demonstrators are expected to gather following Friday
prayers.
Armoured trucks are lining the streets in near Rabaa
al-Adawiya Mosque in the city's east, which has become a gathering point
for Islamist protesters.
Troops have also been deployed to protect the presidential
palace - the scene of previous clashes - and other public buildings in
Cairo.
Fuel shortages
Tensions in Cairo have been rising ahead of the demonstrations
planned for the weekend, with counter-demonstrations by Islamists in
support of Morsi planned for the coming days.
There have also been acute shortages of fuel in the city,
leading to huge traffic jams as well as long and sometimes bad-tempered
queues at petrol stations, adding to the febrile atmosphere.
Soldiers have been deployed across Cairo and other cities around the country ahead of the protests
Some Cairenes have begun stockpiling food in anticipation of
street clashes between the two opposing political camps, with staples
including canned goods, grains and frozen vegetables much sought after.
Gen Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said the army was obliged to stop
Egypt plunging into a "dark tunnel", in remarks which were seen as one
of the strongest interventions since the army handed over power to
President Morsi last year.
Anti-Morsi activists say they have gathered 13 million
signatures on a petition calling for the Islamist leader to step down.
They want early presidential elections to be called to replace him.
His supporters say any move to unseat him now would be undemocratic.
Many analysts say the instability and a continuing threat of violence have frightened away foreign investors and tourists.
There is increasing unemployment, particularly among the young, and the country's foreign currency reserves are falling.
Two years after the revolution that
toppled a dictator, Egypt is already a failed state. According to the Failed
States Index, in the year before the uprising we ranked No. 45. After Hosni
Mubarak fell, we worsened to 31st. I haven't checked recently -- I don't want to
get more depressed. But the evidence is all around us.
Today you see an erosion of state authority in Egypt. The state is
supposed to provide security and justice; that's the most basic form of
statehood. But law and order is disintegrating. In 2012, murders were up 130
percent, robberies 350 percent, and kidnappings 145 percent, according to the
Interior Ministry. You see people being lynched in public, while others take
pictures of the scene. Mind you, this is the 21st century -- not the French
Revolution!
-->
The feeling right now is that there is no
state authority to enforce law and order, and therefore everybody thinks that
everything is permissible. And that, of course, creates a lot of fear and
anxiety.
You can't expect Egypt to have a normal
economic life under such circumstances. People are very worried. People who
have money are not investing -- neither Egyptians nor foreigners. In a situation
where law and order is spotty and you don't see institutions performing their
duties, when you don't know what will happen tomorrow, obviously you hold back.
As a result, Egypt's foreign reserves have been depleted, the budget deficit
will be 12 percent this year, and the pound is being devalued. Roughly a
quarter of our youth wake up in the morning and have no jobs to go to. In every
area, the economic fundamentals are not there.
Egypt could risk a default on its foreign debt
over the next few months, and the government is desperately trying to get a
credit line from here and there -- but that's not how to get the economy back to
work. You need foreign investment, you need sound economic policies, you need
functioning institutions, and you need skilled labor.
So far, however, the Egyptian government has
only offered a patchwork vision and ad hoc economic policies, with no steady
hand at the helm of the state. The government adopted some austerity measures
in December to satisfy certain IMF requirements, only to repeal them by morning. Meanwhile, prices are soaring and
the situation is becoming untenable, particularly for the nearly half of
Egyptians who live on less than $2 a day.
-->
The executive branch has no clue how to run
Egypt. It's not a question of whether they are Muslim Brothers or liberals -- it's
a question of people who have no vision or experience. They do not know how to
diagnose the problem and then provide the solution. They are simply not
qualified to govern.
What began as a humble attempt to translate countrywide
discontent with the way President Mohamed Morsi has governed Egypt, the Tamarod
-- or "Rebel" campaign -- has mobilized millions of Egyptians for a protest
that promises to be epic on the anniversary of Morsi's inauguration. Although
opposition forces initially kept the signature drive that demands Morsi's
removal from office and early elections at arms length, nearly all of the
relevant players in Egypt's transitional drama now recognize the campaign's
significance and potential to affect change. Movement within the political
opposition, including coordination meetings with the campaign and youth groups
for a post-Morsi transition plan, suggests a fundamental belief that the June
30 protests could realize Tamarod's goal of replacing the president.
-->
Islamists who support Morsi's government, primarily from the
Muslim Brotherhood, responded with a counter-signature drive of their own
called Tagarrod
-- or "Impartiality" -- to reiterate their faith (no pun intended) in the
political system and the elections that brought him to power. Supportive
Islamist groups have also called for a June 21 protest against violence.
However, the counter-campaign's attempt to balance the scales only seems to
accentuate the country's deeply divided polity. The Muslim Brotherhood and
other pro-Morsi supporters have repeatedly vilified the Tamarod movement and
some have gone as far as labeling those who turn out to protest on June 30 as
traitors or unbelievers.
Calmer heads within the Islamist movement have taken a more centrist position.
The ultraconservative Salafi al-Nour Party has surprisingly demonstrated one of
the most level headed attitudes with its promise to refrain from participating
in protests, but urging the Muslim Brotherhood and the government to make
concessions to opposition forces to diffuse the volatile situation. Abdel
Moneim Aboul Fotouh's Strong Egypt Party fell on the side of peaceful protests
but stood firm against calls for a military coup to replace Morsi.
The revolutionary fervor and scathing vitriol between the two
groups has gone beyond talking heads exchanging barbs in the Egyptian media. A
number of violent incidents, not the least of which involved an arson
attack by unknown assailants on one of the Tamarod offices in Cairo on June
7, and hours of clashes between Muslim Brotherhood and Tamarod campaigners in
Alexandria on June 12, have heightened tensions between opposing ideologies in
the days leading up to the planned mass demonstration and worried government
security forces. The clashes involving attacks on Tamarod have prompted
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim to publicize its security plans for June 30,
but interestingly confusing
messages have come out of the ministry. Initial statements indicated a
police withdrawal from demonstration areas but Ibrahim subsequently announced
his commitment to protecting all citizens on June 30. Outraged Islamists called
for Ibrahim to be held accountable for his initial refusal to protect Muslim Brotherhood
headquarters and private property.
Other rumblings within the Morsi administration also
indicate some fear within the government that impending protests may shake the
foundations of the current system. Morsi reached out to the National Salvation
Front for yet another national dialogue in an effort to subdue the rising tide
but without suitable guarantees that any negotiations would lead to binding
decisions, opposition leaders declined. Instead, Morsi met with the Islamic
Legitimate Body of Rights and Reformation, an independent multi-party coalition
of Muslim scholars that includes Salafi and Muslim scholars whose deputy chief threatened
the opposition with counter-rallies on June 30. Tamarod members have taken a
similar hardline stance, demanding nothing short of the formation of a
presidential council and a technocratic government with an eye toward Supreme
Constitutional Court (SCC) President Manar al-Beheiry to
replace Morsi.
-->
The scene is certainly set for what could possibly be a
game-changing display of popular outrage. To hear either side of the political
chasm talk of June 30, one might think an Egyptian Armageddon is right around
the corner, with both sides bracing for an outbreak of violence. It is
distinctly possible -- even probable -- that protests could come to blows. In
past confrontations, it took little to provoke competing political forces into
a street battle. Today, not only are the Ultras (the hardcore soccer fans who
regularly clash with police) a factor, Black Bloc anarchists are also planning
to join the protests adding to an already volatile mix, despite promises of
nonviolent protests. "Popular committees" formed to prevent violence are just
as likely to instigate as they are to prevent fights from breaking out. Even
ordinary citizens, fed up with the dire economic conditions and a deteriorating
quality of life, may have little patience for Islamists who may goad them into
throwing the first punch. Some Egyptians who see no political or legal avenue
through which to channel their disapproval have even admitted hopes of a
confrontation to spark the army's intervention and another round of
revolutionary change. In this highly charged political climate, all it takes is
one angry reaction to ensnare an entire country.
Hopes of such clashes ousting Morsi, however, run into some
heady challenges. The Tamarod campaign managed to surpass its goal of 15
million signatures calling for Morsi's resignation and snap elections. It
rekindled the revolutionary flame sparked by its cross-party and youthful
energy and captured the imagination of the silent majority in Egypt, but falls
short of a legal avenue to realize a change in leadership. Currently, the
constitution allows only a few ways by which to remove the president (articles
150 through 152): if the president falls ill or can no longer perform his duty;
if he is charged with high treason and is subsequently impeached by at least
two-thirds of the House of Representatives: if he puts his own presidency up to
popular referendum: or if he voluntarily resigns. Anti-Islamist activists who
argue that the constitution -- by virtue of the highly flawed process of its
formation -- lacks the legitimacy to set appropriate standards for a
post-revolution Egypt may be right, but neither opposition forces nor the
judiciary have yet blatantly crossed the ambiguous legal boundaries that have
guided (or misguided) it through its transition. The irony of Tamarod's support
for the SCC's president to unconstitutionally lead the country is not lost on
those paying attention. The judiciary, in particular, has remained
conspicuously silent on the issue. However, judging by the SCC
decision to allow the Shura Council to continue operating until a new
parliament is elected, despite the court's ruling to invalidate the council,
suggests its unwillingness to rock the boat.
With all of Egypt's dramatic twists and turns over the past
two years, those who claim to know what will happen on June 30 will find
themselves either wrong or lucky. The number of variables that factor into any
one event outstrip the imagination every time. The truth is, no one can claim
with any degree of certainty what might change after June 30, but Tamarod has
certainly revealed how the deep polarization affecting Egyptian society at
large might run deeper than previously imagined. It has tapped into a
disaffected population that lost all faith in Morsi or that elections under his
leadership could be free and fair. It has garnered the support of millions of
Egyptians by avoiding the partisan politics that many citizens have come to
abhor. Lastly, it has called on the aid of the army and the judiciary, the two
institutions with the most support in Egypt, to lead the country to a new
beginning. June 30 may amount to nothing more than a mass protest, but Morsi
would be wise to take the advice of fellow Islamists, abandon the
confrontational stance toward his detractors, and build the consensus that
Egypt desperately lacks sooner rather than later. The countdown begins.
Tarek Radwan is the associate director for research at the Atlantic
Council's Rafik Hariri Center. He previously reported on the Middle East with Human
Rights Watch's MENA division and served as a Human Rights Officer for the
United Nations/African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur. Mr. Radwan specializes
in Egypt, with a focus on civil society, human rights, the constitution, and
judicial issue
The Egyptian government has announced it’s severing all ties to
the Syrian government and backing the rebel fight seeking to oust
Bashar al-Assad. On Saturday, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi told
supporters he’s closing the Syrian embassy in Cairo and recalling his
government’s envoy from Damascus.
-->
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi: "The Syrian people
are facing a campaign of extermination and planned ethnic cleansing,
fed by regional and international states who do not care for the Syrian
citizen. The people of Egypt support the struggle of the Syrian people,
materially and morally. And Egypt — its nation, leadership and army —
will not abandon the Syrian people until it achieves its rights and
dignity."
In his comments, Morsi also
called on the international community to
enforce a no-fly zone over Syria and urged all Hezbollah members
fighting alongside Assad’s forces to return to Lebanon. In response, the
Syrian government said Morsi has joined the "conspiracy and incitement
led by the United States and Israel against Syria." The U.S. has denied
pressuring Egypt on Syria.
لى بيهدموه يرجعوا تاني يفحتوه، و إلي يسفلتوه يرجعوا تانى يهدوه، مرة عشان الكهربا ومرة مواسير المية، مرة سلك التليفون، ومرة المجاري . ياما جاري في الدنيا ياما جاري . طب ما كانوا فحتوا مرة واحدة إلي بيقولوا في لجنة تخطيط يمكن الواحد غلطان ولجنة التخطيط هي إلي صح آه، مادام بيجتمعوا كتير ويخططوا كتير يبقى لازم يفحتوا كتير. من فيلم ثرثرة فوق النيل -
Violence against women in Egypt gained national and international
attention following a series of well-publicized sexual assaults on women
in the vicinity of Tahrir Square earlier this year during protests
commemorating the second anniversary of the “25 January Revolution”.
Unfortunately, these instances of violence against women were neither isolated nor unique.
-->
Whether in the public or private spheres, at the hands of state or
non-state actors, violence against women in Egypt continues to go mostly
unpunished.
Most cases go unreported for a plethora of reasons that stem from
discriminatory gender stereotypes, the lack of women’s awareness of
their rights, social and family pressures to remain silent,
discriminatory legislation and women’s economic dependence. Even when
women do surmount these obstacles and turn to state institutions for
protection, justice and reparation, they are often confronted with
dismissive or abusive officials who fail to refer cases to prosecution
or trial, and lengthy and expensive court proceedings if they want to
get divorced. Women who do manage to obtain a divorce then face the
likelihood that court orders for child support or spousal maintenance
will not be enforced.
In recent weeks during an Amnesty International mission to Egypt, I
met several women and girls who were assaulted by their husbands and
other relatives. Many suffer in silence for years while they are
subjected to beatings, severe physical and verbal abuse and rape.
Om Ahmed (mother of Ahmed) told me that her husband began drinking
and beating her after three years of marriage. She recounted daily
abuse, punctuated with particularly vicious attacks. In one instance,
her ex-husband smashed a full glass bottle on her face, leaving her
without her front teeth. She stayed with him for another 17 years,
partially, she explained, because she had nowhere else to go, and
partially because she did not want to bring “shame” on her family. She
never considered approaching the police, shrugging:
“The police don’t care, they don’t think it is a problem if a husband
beats his wife. If you are a poor woman, they treat you like you don’t
even exist and send you back home to him after hurling a few insults.”
Eventually, Om Ahmed’s husband kicked her out of their home, and for
the next year she lived with her three children in an unfinished
building in an informal settlement without running water and
electricity. After two years in family court, she was awarded a meagre
150 Egyptian pounds (approx. US$21) per month for her daughter’s child
support (her other two children don’t qualify for it as they over 18).
Her own spousal maintenance decision is still pending.
Unlike Egyptian Muslim men who can divorce their wives unilaterally –
and without giving any reason – women who wish to divorce their abusive
husbands have to go to court and prove “fault” or that their marriage
caused them “harm”. To prove physical harm, they have to present
evidence, such as medical reports or eyewitness testimony, in
proceedings that are drawn out and expensive. Many women’s rights
lawyers and lawyers working in family court cases told me that this is a
very difficult task for many women because they don’t always report the
abuse to the police, and neighbours, who are usually the only witnesses
other than household members, are reluctant to get involved.
I met one woman who had a particularly striking case. She told me:
“We [my ex-husband and I] only lived together for a few months, but
it took me six years to get a divorce, and I am still in court to get my
full [financial] rights back. Problems started soon after we got
married, and he would beat me. His mother and sisters were also abusive…
After a particularly bad beating, I went to the police station to lodge
a complaint, but I withdrew it under pressure [from my husband who
threatened me]. The case took so long because he had good lawyers who
knew all the loopholes in the law.”
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In 2000, a second option for women seeking divorce was introduced,
whereby women can obtain khul’ (no-fault divorce) from the courts
without having to prove harm, but only if they forego their right to
spousal maintenance and other financial rights. These court proceedings
can still take up to a year and put women who are financially dependent
on their husbands at a severe disadvantage. Despite this, several
divorcees told Amnesty International that they opted for khul’ after
waiting for a court fault-based divorce for years.
Twenty-four-year-old Om Mohamed (mother of Mohamed) told Amnesty International:
“We have been separated for over four years, but I am still neither
married nor divorced… I was trying to prove all this time in court that
he didn’t spend any money on me or our son, and that [my husband] used
to beat me with whatever he could find under his hands, including belts
and wires. Every time I go to court, the hearing is postponed, and I
need this or that paper. I spent a lot of money on lawyers, and got
nowhere… Eventually, I gave up and in January [2013] I raised a khul’
case.”
During my visit to Egypt in May and June this year, I also met women
and girls who suffered violence and sexual abuse at the hands of other
relatives. A 17-year-old girl told me that she ran away from home after a
particularly brutal beating by her brother, who stabbed her in the nose
with a kitchen knife, and burned her with a hot iron. Her scars
corroborated her story. She was too scared to report the incident at the
hospital where she sought treatment, as her brother had accompanied her
and threatened to kill her if she spoke out. She spent months wandering
the streets before being admitted into a private shelter for children.
Another woman who fled home after her brother sexually assaulted her
found temporary protection in a shelter run by an association under the
Ministry of Insurances and Social Affairs. She fled from the shelter
after the administration insisted that she give them her brother’s
contact details, to try to set up a “reconciliation meeting”.
There are only nine official shelters across Egypt, which are
severely under-resourced and in need of capacity-building and training.
Most survivors of domestic violence don’t even know they exist. The idea
of shelters is not widely accepted, because of the stigma attached for
women living outside their family or marital homes.
A staff member at a shelter recounted to me how, after an
awareness-raising session in a village in Upper Egypt, a village leader
got up and – in front of all those gathered – threatened to “stab to
death” any woman who dared to leave an abusive household and run to a
shelter. In another instance, the husband of a woman living in a shelter
threatened to set it on fire.
In May, the authorities announced the establishment of a special
female police unit to combat sexual violence and harassment. While this
may be a welcome step, the Egyptian authorities need to do much more to
prevent and punish gender-based violence and harassment, starting by
unequivocally condemning it. They also need to amend legislation to
ensure that survivors receive effective remedies. They must also show
political will and tackle the culture of denial, inaction and, in some
cases complicity, of law enforcement officials who not only fail to
protect women from violence but also to investigate properly all
allegations and bring perpetrators to trial.
Egyptian women were at the forefront of the popular protests that
brought down Hosni Mubarak’s presidency some two and a half years ago.
Today, they continue to challenge the prevailing social attitudes and
gender biases that facilitate violence against women, in all its forms,
to continue with impunity – while they continue their fight against
marginalization and exclusion from the political processes shaping the
country’s future.
Meanwhile, with the help of human and women’s rights organizations,
seven women who were sexually assaulted around Tahrir Square lodged a
complaint with the prosecution in March 2013 calling for accountability
and redress. Investigations were started, but have since stalled.
One of the lawyers for the women was told by a prosecutor that the
case was not that “important” compared to other cases on his desk. But
the plaintiffs are not giving up. As one of them told Amnesty
International: “Even as I was being abused, I felt that I will not stay
quiet, I will not back down. They have to be punished.”
By Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Egypt researcher
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