A Giza misdemeanour court has sentenced controversial TV presenter Reham Saeed to six months in prison for defaming a sexual assault victim on her TV show in October 2015. Saeed was also fined EGP 10,000.

 

The court also sentenced Saeed of a year in jail for “violating the personal freedoms” of the female student, Somaya Tarek. Judges set bail for the TV presenter in this case at 15,000 EGP.

 

Saeed can still appeal both sentences.

 

The court also ordered the acquittal of other defendants in the case referred to in the media as “The Mall Girl.”

 

The incident stems back to an episode run by Saeed on her popular evening show Sabaya El-Kheir on 27 October 2015 where Saeed taunted her guest Tarek for " dressing indecently", insinuating that she was to blame for a sexual assault by a man at a Cairo mall.

 

Saeed also uploaded personal photos of the victim from her personal mobile, and posted them online to back her "indecency invited the assault" arguments. 

 

After the show and its presenter earned widespread public outrage, Al-Nahar took Saeed off the air.

 

Tarek later filed a legal complaint against Saeed and Alaa El-Kahky, the owner of the privately owned Al-Nahar TV channel, which syndicated Saeed's show.

 

In November 2015, Tarek's  attacker received a one month sentence in jail. That sentence was reduced on appeal in February 2016 to two weeks.