Egypt's Attorney General launches investigation into incidents of harassment committed by dentist

CAIRO - 3 August 2020: Egyptian Public Prosecutor Hamada al-Sawy has ordered an investigation into reports that accused a dentist of sexually abusing his male patients.

A Tuesday statement by the Public Prosecution office explained that the prosecution had received a notice on September 1 from the attorney of three people about a dentist who had sexually abused them.

On Tuesday morning, artist Abbas Abul-Hassan and famous singer Tamim Younes submitted an official communication to the Attorney General against Dr. Basem Samir, on charges of harassing men.

Abul-Hassan said, “I submitted an official report to the Public Prosecution and the Attorney General through the lawyer Hassan Abul-Einin as a representative of Abbas Abul-Hassan Abbas Muhammad and Tamim Hafez Ahmad Yunis and others against the sexual harasser, Dr. Bassem Samir Nashed Fahmy, better known as Bassem Samir. This is about incidents of sexual harassment and legal measures are being taken."

Egyptian singer and songwriter Tameem Youness had also spoken in August 2020 out about being sexually assaulted by a dentist, detailing the incident in a video on his official Instagram account.

He said he had visited the dentist while he was 22 upon the recommendation of his fiancée and her family after suffering from tooth pain.

 

 

 

 

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Aug 26, 2020 at 12:05pm PDT

Younes described the dentist as an old, married man. The songwriter and his fiancée visited the dentist together, with Younes going in alone for his treatment. It was then that the dentist began asking him sexually suggestive questions, which lead to him pulling down Younees’s pants and grabbing his genitals.

He then accused Younees of “losing his mind” from the anesthesia after being pushed away. Younes said he later learned that the dentist was known for sexually abusing his patients from other testimonies. He called on the dentist to resign.

However, the accused, Dr. Bassem Samir, issued a statement on his clinic's Facebook page, condemning the accusations against him, and describing them as attempts to blackmail him and harm his reputation and his professional and personal standing, and even harm all his family members.

The doctor added in the statement, “What was recently published and circulated on the social media is an organized and systematic crime with despicable goals to slander me and harm my reputation."

Dr. Bassem Samir confirmed that he will take all legal measures regarding these accusations, “All legal measures have been taken and reports have been submitted before all the competent legal authorities regarding these accusations."

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For his part, Dr. Ahmed Mossad, a member of the Dental Association Council and a spokesperson for it, said that the union followed the statement issued by Dr. Bassem Samir, the dentist, and his announcement that he would face the defamation battle launched against him.

Mosaad added in statements that the aforementioned doctor did not submit a request to the syndicate to stand in solidarity with him and defend his civil right in the case, stressing that the syndicate will form a committee to study the matter. "If Samir is proven guilty, the union will take deterrent measures against the doctor," Mossaad asserted.

Incidents of harassment are considered a stigma attached to the victims more than the accused themselves, as they are frustrated and depressed, and sometimes they feel fear and social phobia. Some men narrated painful facts and ugly moments about their exposure to harassment incidents by women and men older than them, and despite the psychological pain these facts remained silent for fear of becoming material for ridicule, and recently some decided to break the silence by listing these painful facts.