Egypt TV show halted over sex assault comment

Cairo: A popular Egyptian TV show has been suspended after its host blamed a woman’s dressing for an alleged sexual assault, triggering a massive outrage.

The private TV network Al Nahar said on Friday it has decided to suspend the show Sabaya Al Kheir (Girls of Benevolence) and open a “large-scale inquiry” into the episode in which the purported victim was interviewed and private photos of hers shown.

“We offer our apology to everyone upset by this episode and confirm our respect to every girl, woman and member of our honoured people,” Al Nahar said in a statement.

The action came after major brands and sponsors had reportedly withdrawn their adverts from the show amid an online campaign to boycott the satellite TV network. The campaign has drawn support from thousands of Facebook users since it was launched on Wednesday.

The show host Reham Saeed this week drew sharp criticism on Egypt’s social media after she accused the woman of provoking the assault by wearing “revealing clothes”.

Footage from a surveillance camera at a shopping mall in Cairo went viral online and local TV stations earlier this week, showing a man approaching the woman, who was dressed in a jeans and a sleeveless top. He was seen arguing with her and then kicking and slapping her in the face before restrained by the mall security personnel. The man was handed over to police.

Days later, intimate photos of the woman were aired on Saeed’s programme, showing her in a bikini and being held by a man.

The woman, whose name is withheld for legal reasons, claimed that the shots had been secretively downloaded by the show makers from her mobile phone while she was in the studio for an interview.

Saeed has denied the claim, saying her crew obtained the pictures through an electronic application. The anchor defended airing the photos, saying the incident of the alleged sexual attack has become a public opinion issue.

Some detractors accused Saeed of encouraging sex assaults on women by blaming the victims, and called for her prosecution.

Rights groups and lawyers have lashed out at the show host and expressed readiness to offer legal help for the woman.

Sexual offences have been on the rise in Egypt in recent years.

A UN report released in 2013 found that 99.3 per cent of women in Egypt have experienced some form of sexual harassment. Conservative members of society usually blame women for being subjected to harassment.

The government has in the past two years stepped up efforts to deter would-be offenders.

Under recent legal amendments, sexual harassment in Egypt is punishable by jail terms of up to 10 years.

In recent months, Egyptian courts have issued tough jail sentences in cases of sex assaults.

The verdicts were delivered following a short number of hearings. Previously, such cases took long years before a ruling was delivered.