Egyptian TV presenter says police 'pushed' to commit foolishness such as rape
Ahram Online , Saturday 17 Jan 2015
Amany El-Khayat's statements come in the wake of rape charges against two policemen and follow prior controversial statements on prostitution in Morocco


Egyptian TV presenter Amany El-Khayat said Friday that the interior ministry is being "targetted" nowadays in the wake of rape charges against two policemen.

El-Khayat, in her show on Al-Qahera Wal Nas private TV channel, said that the ministry is being assailed via its lower-ranked police sector who, together with police conscripts, are less educated than other police personnel.

This sector, according to El-Khayat, will be "pushed" to commit foolishness, and this foolishness will be taped and the media will be used to promote these incidents.

On 21 December, a lower-ranked policeman and a police conscript were arrested for charges of raping a woman in the backseat of a patrol car in Cairo's Shubra district.

The two policemen were released on bail of LE1,000 ($140) on 10 January. One day later, Egypt's forensic authority said the seminal fluid on the victim's clothes matched those of the two policemen. The victim was still deemed "a virgin" by forensics.

El-Khayat added that rape incidents by policemen "happen", but that they have to be "seen in [the] right perspective."

"It doesn't only happen with the lower ranked police officers' sector; it happens in many other sectors because this is the … uhh … the nature of … uhh … this is a society of 90 million," El-Khayat declared.

El-Khayat warned that some media "will fall into" focusing on and discussing such events.

Accordingto Egyptian law, "attempted rape" is considered sexual assault, a charge different from rape.

Sexual violence is asignificant problem in Egypt, particularly sexual harassment on the streets and mob assaults during large social gatherings.

El-Khayat has previously come under attack for controversial statements.

Last year, El-Khayat, on her previous show on privately owned ONTV channel, said Morocco's economy was built on prostitution and — as proof — asked her viewers to Google Morocco's ranking in terms of AIDS prevalence.

Her commentssparked uproar from Moroccans on social media, making ONTV owner, businessman Naguib Sawiris, personally apologise on Twitter to a Moroccan citizen and say that he would investigate the incident himself.

Shortly after, El-Khayat's contract with ONTV was terminated.

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