Egypt

An Egyptian man has been jailed for three years with hard labor for sexual harassment of a woman in the street. Sharif Gommaa was also ordered to pay 5,001 Egyptian pounds (USD 895) damages to Noha Rushdi Saleh for the attack in Cairo’s Heliopolis district. Women’s rights activists welcomed the ruling saying it was the first known case of prison for such an offense. Although many Egyptian women and visiting foreigners complain of unwanted sexual advances in Egyptian streets, the subject is rarely addressed by the authorities or mainstream media. (BBC)