Female Egyptian biker experiences fatal sexual harassment incident

CAIRO - 4 June 2018: By the end of March a girl named Samreen witnessed the most horrifying experience in her life, she was harassed by a truck driver who chased her until she was knocked out of her bike, causing her fatal injuries in brain and ribs.

Samreen, a girl in her early twenties, was riding her motorbike in her hometown in Alexandria when she was followed by a truck driver who works for a prominent food company, according to a post for her friend, Manar Ezzat Zahran, on her Facebook account.

“The driver was chasing her by his truck along the corniche, before he hit her bike and run, leaving her bleeding on roadside. Samreen had fatal injuries in brain and ribs, not to mention the blood clots in her tummy and abnormalities in facial skin,” Manar posted on Facebook, asking social media users to share the post as much as they can to reach the company the offender works for, in order to prosecute him.



The post went viral on Facebook, with calls to punish both the harasser driver and the company for denying the incident and trying to cover up for him. The harsh campaign led to the arrest of the driver and detaining him for four days on pending investigation.

The incident triggered the outrage of public and anti-harassment campaigns.

“A girl has all the rights to ride any transportation with no harassments,” Harassmap campaign said in a statement released on April 5.

“Every company should set rules and educate its employees against harassment behavior, to avoid such incidents,” the statement reads concluding with hashtag #SamreenRightStillAbsent.



The initial medical report of Samreen’s condition states that she suffers from brain infiltration, fractures in two of her ribs and a post-accident trauma.

Female bike-riders launched a campaign on Facebook demanding the arrest of the driver, and to defend women rights to safely ride bikes.

Several Egyptian females resorted to using motorbikes in their daily life, which stirred waves of public’s censure since it is an abnormal transportation way for women in Egypt. Most of women reported harassment comments and violent behavior against them by bystanders or drivers, which sometimes lead to physical assaults.

Sexual harassment is criminalized by the Egyptian law. The first harassment law in Egypt was issued in June 2014 during the rule of interim President Adly Mansour, which states that the minimum term of imprisonment for the criminal is six months or the payment of a fine between LE 3,000-5,000 ($170-284).

Women's council honors first Upper Egyptian to win harassment case

CAIRO - 6 March 2018: "Rania is an Egyptian icon who broke taboos and gained her rights," said Maya Mursi, head of Egyptian National Council for Women on Monday while hosting Rania Fahmy, the first Upper Egyptian girl to file a case against a harasser.