Egypt’s Public Prosecution orders detention of 3 defendants in Fairmont gang rape case

CAIRO – 1 September 2020: The Egyptian Public Prosecution on Monday ordered the detention of three defendants in the gang rape case known in media as “Fairmont Nile City” for four days and the release of three others on a guarantee worth LE 100,000 ($6,300).

The prosecution, in an official statement, said it also released another defendant in the case given his place of residence.

The prosecution referred the defendants to a specialized administration to take drug tests and ordered medical examination on two of them.

According to the statement, the prosecution also seized their phones and sent them to the specialized administration in the Ministry of Interior to view the material on their phones, recover the deleted files and transcribe the conversations on social media platforms saved on these phones.

Some media platforms revealed the identity of the detained defendants, including Ahmad Al-Ganzouri and Nazly Mustafa Karim, the daughter of Egyptian actress Noha Al-Amrousi, but the information were not officially confirmed.

On Sunday morning, the Egyptian Public Prosecution ordered the detention of a new defendant, raising the number of the accused men to nine. Amr Hafez was detained for four days pending the investigations after he was arrested on August 28, 2020, inside Egypt for accusations of raping a girl in Fairmont Nile City Hotel, downtown Cairo in 2014.

Previously, another defendant Amir Zayed was arrested in Egypt, while the three others were arrested on August 28, 2020, in Lebanon. Four remaining co-defendants are still fugitives.

At Interpol Egypt’s request, the Lebanese Internal security forces (ISF) arrested three fugitive Egyptians in the Lebanese Fatqa village of Mount Lebanon Governorate.

In a statement from the ISF on Saturday, Interpol Egypt on August 27 notified the Lebanese authorities of names of fleeing seven defendants to Lebanon. After conducting investigations by the Lebanese authorities, it has been revealed that only five men entered Lebanon late July, the statement added, noting that two out of the five fugitives already fled Lebanon and the three others were arrested on August 28, 2020.

The Egyptian Public Prosecution on August 26 revealed that 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.