Death sentence to rapist of 20-month old girl upheld

CAIRO – 8 November 2018: The Cassation Court upheld Wednesday, Nov. 7 the death sentence handed down to a man who admitted raping a then 20-month old girl in the case known in media as “Pampers Child.”

In 2017, the General Prosecution referred Ibrahim Mahmoud, 35, to the criminal court. Following numerous sessions, the court referred the defendant to the Grand Mufti, a standard procedure that seeks taking the religious authority’s approval on sentencing a defendant to death.

On June 1, 2017, the court announced sentencing Mahmoud to death. The defendant appealed the verdict a few days later. However, the Cassation Court upheld the death sentence against Mahmoud on Nov. 7.

Activists argue that sexual abuse against children is always under-reported, and the statistics can widely vary as children victims are harder to speak out. A study carried out in 2009, found that 7.9 percent of men and 19.7 percent of women suffered sexual abuse before the age of 18.

The study could conclude the statistics after it had analyzed 65 articles covering 22 countries, according to the study’s results. The study was carried out by Noemi Pereda, Georgina Guilera, Maria Forns, and Juana Gomez-Benito.