3 Fairmont rape case defendants lose appeal to be released pending investigations

CAIRO – 15 December 2020: An appeal court has upheld the decision to continue to detain three defendants in a notorious gang rape case known as the “Fairmont incident.”

The defendants, who include two brothers, appealed their detention at New Cairo Appeals Court, but they lost the appeal. They had been deported from Lebanon upon a request from the Egyptian prosecution.

The Public Prosecution is carrying out investigations into the Fairmont rape incident that took place in 2014 inside Fairmont Hotel, after the three defendants, Ahmed Toulan, Amr Hussein and Khaled Hussein, were arrested in Lebanon per Interpol Egypt’s request.

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.

A day later, the Egyptian authorities announced that another defendant in the case was arrested and detained for four days pending investigations; Amir Zayed was arrested on August 26 as he was trying to flee the country like his seven co-defendants who traveled abroad in late July after their names were circulated on social media.