CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian first lady Suzanne Mubarak has played down allegations of rampant sexual harassment in her country, accusing the media, and implicitly Islamist militants, of exaggerating the reports.
“Egyptian men always respect Egyptian women,” the pro-government Al-Ahram newspaper on Friday quoted the wife of President Hosni Mubarak as saying in remarks aired on Thursday by Al-Arabiya television.
The Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights (ECWR) released a survey earlier this year showing that 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women in Egypt are sexually harassed.
“This gives the impression that the streets in Egypt are not safe. That is not true… The media have exaggerated,” Mubarak said.
“Maybe one, two or even 10 incidents occurred. Egypt is home to 80 million people. We can’t talk of a phenomenon. Maybe a few scatterbrained youths are behind this crime.
“And maybe some people wanted to make it seem as though the streets of Egypt are not safe so girls and women stay at home. This could be their agenda,” she said in a reference to Islamist militants.
Of course, in her own experience, when she goes out on the street in her motorcode surrounded by bodyguards and soldiers, no one EVER gropes her. So it must apply to all other women in Egypt.
ahhhh! that is DISGUSTING. what does she know anyway?
[…] via The Arabist: CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian first lady Suzanne Mubarak has played down allegations of rampant sexual […]
اخرب بيتها ويلعن الله عيلتها العبيطة!
this is funny; if the streets of egypt were so safe then they wouldn’t have to be lined with barking dogs of national (whose nation?) security each time her and hosni wanted to go fart somewhere. but i guess it’s not “mere” groping but retribution they have to fear from the shaab.
What is stupid is blaming it on the Islamists, who in fact share Suzy’s view of downplaying it all, for their own reasons an drationale.
She seems to haven’t adapted to newer blame-them techniques that other officials have developed after the 90s.
Now now – she isn’t blaming it all on the Islamists – she also points to Those Who Sully Egypt’s Name Abroad more generally.
[…] And I’m sure these arrests have nothing to do with the fact that Egypt has become so synonymous with sexual harassment that it’s become a major topic of discussion in newspapers, the topic of travel warnings in foreign newspapers, and of course that it’s reached the ears of a certain First Lady. […]