Egypt has criminalised sexual harassment and introduced penalties including prison terms and fines, as the country attempts to control a rise in attacks on women.
Adly Mansour, the outgoing president, on Thursday approved a decree to make sexual harassment an offence punishable by up to five years’ jail, or fines of between $400 and $7,000.
The decree defines harassment as any sexual or pornographic suggestion or hints through words, signs or acts, until now the country has not had a law defining sexual harassment.
The decree amended the country’s current law, which did not criminalise sexual harassment and only vaguely referred to such offences as indecent assault.
A minimum two-year jail term was introduced for harassers who hold a position of power over their victim, is in uniform or is armed with a weapon. Penalties would double for repeat offenders.
Egypt has witnessed a jump in sexual assaults since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak from the presidency, with large numbers of mob attacks on women during political protests.
A 2013 study by the UN said that 99.3 percent of women in Egypt had been subjected to abuse.
