A Cairo misdemeanour court sentenced a man to one month in prison on Saturday for sexually harassing and attacking a woman in a mall, in charges relating to a widely publicised incident in October.

Bail was set at LE200 for the defendant's release as his sentence will be suspended pending his appeal.

The events of the incident date back to October when a leaked security video from a Cairo mall showed a man violently slapping the victim, Somaya Tarek, in the face following a brief argument.

Tarek appeared in a number of TV shows saying that the man sexually harassed her and then attacked her.

In his closing speech, the convict's lawyer argued that his client should be acquitted because he didn't sexually harass Tarek, and that she was the one who initiated the incident by cursing at his client.  

The video of the incident quickly went viral on Egyptian social media, and became notorious when a TV host was suspended from her show for blaming the victim for being harassed.

Controversial media figure Reham Saeed interviewed Tarek on her show and showed private photos of her, blaming the harassment incident on Tarek's "indecent" clothes and behaviour.

Tarek later alleged that Saeed stole the pictures from her mobile phone when it was left unattended during the taping of the show.