Egyptian lawyer says it's a national duty to rape girls who wear revealing clothing like ripped jeans.

An Egyptian lawyer has prompted outrage for saying harassing and raping girls who wear revealing clothing such as ripped jeans is a “national duty”.

Nabih al-Wahsh, a prominent conservative, made the controversial comments during a TV panel show discussion debating a draft law on prostitution.

"Are you happy when you see a girl walking down the street with half of her behind showing?" the lawyer said on Al-Assema earlier this month.

He added: “I say that when a girl walks about like that, it is a patriotic duty to sexually harass her and a national duty to rape her.”


(Click the picture above to start the video)

Mr al-Wahsh’s remarks have prompted fury across the country and Egypt’s National Council for Women announced it plans to file a complaint against the TV channel. It also issued a plea for media outlets to refrain from providing a platform for individuals who make incendiary comments that incite violence against women.

The National Council also said it would be filing a complaint against Mr al-Wahsh himself and rebuked his assertion.

“All the members of the council denounce and decry this statement that explicitly promotes rape and sexual harassment,” it said in a statement.

Maya Morsi, head of the council, argued his remarks constitute an actual violation of the Egyptian constitution that makes explicit efforts to safeguard women’s rights.

The comments come after the Egyptian capital of Cairo was last month branded the “most dangerous” megacity for women in the first international poll which looked at how women fare in cities with over ten million people. Women's rights campaigners in the city say this stems from deeply entrenched centuries-old traditions of discrimination there and women having limited access to good healthcare, education, and finance.

Prominent Egyptian journalist, Shahira Amin, said something as mundane and everyday as taking a stroll down the street in the capital could leave a woman vulnerable to harassment and abuse of all kinds.

A 2008 study found that 83 per cent of Egyptian women said they had been sexually harassed and 53 per cent of men blamed women for “bringing it on themselves”.

Mr al-Wahsh made headlines in October last year after his debate with a liberal cleric descended into chaos and chairs and shoes wound up flying around the TV studio.

The fiercely heated discussion turned ferocious after Sheikh Rashad, who is famed for his permissive interpretation of Islam, argued women should not necessarily be required to cover their hair with a headscarf.

“You're an apostate! You're an infidel” Mr Wahsh yelled.

The cleric responded: “You're mentally ill. You belong in a mental hospital.”

Mr al-Wahsh then took his shoe off in an apparent preparation for a fight as whacking someone with the sole of your shoe is a serious insult in the Arabic world. Mr Rashed then rushed at him while Mr al-Wash responded by hitting with his shoe.

The spectacle culminated in the two men grappling across the debating area, smashing a glass panel and having to be pulled apart by the studio crew.

Mr al-Wahsh has previously stated his opposition to women serving as judges. He argued if women become judges they could also become muftis, a Muslim legal expert who has the power to give rulings on religious issues, and would issue fatwas - a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a recognised authority - while they are on their periods.

He said: “If we let a woman become a judge, why shouldn't she become Sheik of Al-Azhar? Why shouldn't she become the Mufti? Why don't we all just go to Hell?! Will she issue me a fatwa while she is menstruating?!”

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 30831.html

Another nutter strutting his stuff on a TV chat show.

Makes the average Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer guest look quite normal.

Best ignored.

What a complete tosser. I just hope that one day as he is walking down the street he bends down to pick up a dropped twenty and his trousers split. ''They don't like it up 'em Captain Mainwaring.''

Thick uneducated moron. What a great assett to Egypt, if people see this they will further cast the Country onto the S--- Tip

Two topics from different perspectives on the rights of women. One from a misogynist bigot (pity his wife and daughters) and the other demanding that women have the right not to be harassed in the workplace or elsewhere. I know which one I agree with.

So its 'normal' in prime time Egyptian current affairs TV interviews for a senior and aged lawyer and a cleric to use violence/abuse rather than logic, calm and evidence in a 'debate' about a serious issue.

Presumably both are part of an educated elite and at least middle class - the lawyer is probably upper middle. The future for Egypt doesn't look good if this is how things are discussed in public by the elite. Is it unreasonable to assume that in private maybe extreme violence/intimidation is used to settle disputes/differences by the same group? Is you are unwashed what lesson/incitement do you get out of it?

The cleric is meant to be a 'liberal' but doesn't seem to have liberal techniques for expressing his opinion.

Egypt lawyer faces trial over rape remarks.

Prosecutors in Egypt have ordered a trial for a lawyer who had called on a TV talk show for raping women who wear ripped jeans.

Last month, lawyer Nabih al-Wahsh said on a private television station that harassing or raping women appearing in public in ripped jeans is a "national duty."

His remarks triggered an outcry among women's rights groups who filed legal complaints against him.

Al-Wahsh is facing charges of inciting sexual assaults and spreading news that disrupts public peace, state-run newspaper al-Ahram reported online.

His trial will begin on December 2 at the State Security Misdemeanour Court in Cairo, according to the report.

In 2014, Egypt passed a law stipulating harsher punishments for sexual harassment and expediting court trials for suspects.

Conservatives in the mostly Muslim country usually blame women for wearing "revealing" clothes. However, Muslim women dressed in the full-body niqab have also said they experience harassment.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-n ... 531db75dfd

It's always bothered me with Muslims girls going to a disco.
You go with your sister and come home with her Mother, I mean who can tell ?....

I'll never forget seeing a group of women, fully veiled with just the eyes showing at a theme park in Cairo.

They were competing with their children on the dodgem cars and having a whale of a time.

I think it's possible that they may have been visitors and perhaps child carers rather than their mothers. Who knows it hurt no one.

Well, the lawyer has had his comeuppance ...and remarkably quickly for Egyptian justice.

"Egyptian Lawyer Nabih al-Wahsh is sentenced to three years in prison in addition to EGP 20,000 fine for inciting rape and sexual harassment.

Al-Wahsh has been referred to court, late November, on charges of inciting rape and sexual harassment after saying that raping girls who wear ripped jeans is a ‘national duty’.

Al-Wahsh said these comments during a TV interview on the privately-owned Assema TV channel further adding that it is a patriotic act to sexually harass women who wear revealing clothes.

The National Council for Women strongly condemned the statements of al-Wahsh. It said in a statement, “All the members of the council denounce and decry this statement that explicitly promotes rape and sexual harassment.”

The head of the council, Maya Morsi, further added that what al-Wahsh said is a violation of the Egyptian constitution that protects women’s rights. She expressed her astonishment that such a statement comes out from a lawyer who is supposed to be defending the rights of women, according to a previous article by Egyptian Streets.

Previous reports by national and international organizations suggested that more than 99 percent of Egyptian women have been subject to sexual harassment.

Earlier in October, Thomson Reuters Foundation released results of a new poll suggesting that Cairo is the world’s most dangerous megacity for women.

It further added that Cairo ranked the third worst megacity, after Delhi and Sao Paulo in terms of risk being exposed to sexual harassment.

Moreover, Egyptians have joined the global hashtag #MeToo that exposes the growing epidemic of sexual harassment, that both men and women are subject to. Thousands of users have used the hashtag to tell their stories of sexual harassment, assaults and sexual violence they have been subject to.

Egypt has classified sexual harassment, in 2014, as a crime to be punished by law. Violators may face minimum jail terms of six months and/or fines of EGP 3,000 to EGP 5,000.

https://egyptianstreets.com/2017/12/02/ ... arassment/

Serves him right, misogynist git.