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CAIRO - 26 August 2020: Seven of the defendants in the notorious Fairmont Hotel gang rape case have fled Egypt as a result of disseminating their information online before the victim officially reported the incident.
In a Wednesday statement, the Public Prosecution said it has created an online means of receiving reports and complaints, emphasizing that an incident going viral on social media is still not considered official reporting.
The whereabouts of two other defendants are still being located, one of whom has been reported with video evidence, the statement said. Procedures to apprehend the seven defendants abroad are underway, the statement added, although it is plausible that they traveled to countries without an extradition treaty with Egypt.
The seven defendants left the country between July 27 and July 29. The victim reported the 2014 rape on Aug. 4, upon which the prosecution immediately put them on the travel ban list, according to the statement.
The Prosecution pleaded that cases of violence against women are reported swiftly, and that social media users refrain from posting the information of defendants, which is as important to hide as that of the victim for the sake of investigations. The prosecution will continue to unilaterally investigate a case that surfaces online if found appropriate and with sufficient information, all the while perserving the freedom of people who are accused online without evidence.
The General Prosecution office received Wednesday a memo from the National Council for Women (NCW) that includes a complaint sent to the Council by a female who was allegedly gang-raped in 2014 in Fairmont Nile City Hotel in Cairo.
The complaint also includes testimonies made by others regarding the incident.
The General Attorney ordered to have the memo investigated, and the General Prosecution will announce the investigation results at the right time in order to preserve the accuracy and progress of the investigation.
A group of women took recently to the social media platforms accusing a group of upper-classmen of raping and abusing them back in 2014, sparking controversy in different social media platforms.
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