Egypt convicts activist for protesting over sexual harassment

An Egyptian court has sentenced an activist to two years in prison after she protested against government failing to protect women over sexual harassment.

Amal Fathy, a member of the April 6 youth movement, which played a role in 2011 protests that forced President Hosni Mubarak from office, has also been fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($562), her lawyer Tarek Abuel Nasr told journalists.

She was accused of spreading false news that threatened national security and disseminating a video that violated public decency.

Fellow activists have been protesting her arrest.

“This is injustice, unjustified and incomprehensible. We have provided all the evidence to prove that she didn’t spread false news,” said her husband, Mohamed Lotfy, a human rights activist and executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF).

“When a woman is subjected to sexual harassment and gets sentenced to two years and fined then this means we are telling all Egyptian women ‘shut your mouths …if you don’t want to go to prison’.”

Fathy will appeal the ruling, her lawyer said.