Egyptian security forces have arrested a man accused of stabbing a beauty queen multiple times.
Local media reported that Marwa Adel was leaving the house to meet a friend when she was attacked by a neighbour with a sharp object and stabbed 25 times. Marwa survived the attack but is said to have suffered significant injuries.
In 2017 Cairo was named the most dangerous city in the world for women with some 99 per cent of female residents reporting sexual harassment. Violence against women has soared in recent years, with a spate of femicides rocking the country.
Over the summer last year a prominent judge killed his wife, the TV presenter Shaimaa Gamal who had a few days prior to her death spoken out against domestic violence.
Also last year university student Mohamed Adel stabbed to death Naira Ashraf after she turned down his marriage proposal.
Salma Bahgat, a 20-year-old Egyptian student, was stabbed to death 17 times by another student, Islam Mohamed, 22, after she turned down his proposal.
Last October, Mohamed Samir strangled his fiancée Kholoud Al-Sayed Farouk to death after she broke off the engagement.
Human rights groups have criticised the government for not doing enough to crack down on violence against women.
Instead, authorities have arrested dozens of women on so-called morality and debauchery charges especially when they have high social media followings.
Earlier this week, Egypt’s public prosecutor ordered that fashion blogger Salma Elshimy be detained for four days on alleged charges of “spreading immorality” and publishing videos and photographs that “contradict social morals and values.”
In December 2020 Salma posted photographs of herself in ancient Egyptian dress in front of the Pyramid of Djoser outside the Saqqara necropolis and was accused of wearing “inappropriate Pharaonic clothes”.
This violence against women, and the arrest of influencers, has come despite Egypt’s own #MeToo movement in which dozens of women have come forward to speak about their experience of rape and abuse.
Amnesty International has said that instead of policing women online, the Egyptian government should investigate sexual and gender-based violence.
Source: Middle East Monitor