Egypt’s Public Prosecution announced on Saturday that it is investigating accused rapist Ahmed Bassam Zaki, who was arrested by police on the same day.
On Friday, the Public Prosecution said it was closely following all information about the suspect that had been shared across social media, including testimonies from women claiming Zaki had sexually assaulted them and forced them into sexual acts via extortion.
Thus far, the prosecution had not received any official complaints against the accused except for one submitted through the Public Prosecution’s official complaints page, which reports an incident dating back to November 2016 where the suspect threatened the victim to perform sexual intercourse with him.
The Public Prosecution called on all media, news sites and social media users to share only accurate reports on the prosecution’s activities and to only follow statements and news issued by its office.
Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW) on Saturday said that it had filed a report with the Public Prosecution to investigate allegations from an Instagram page by women claiming that a young man from a rich family had harassed, assaulted and even raped them.
The page was started earlier this month to compile evidence against the suspect, 22-year-old Ahmed Bassem Zaki, with his victims listing their testimonies of the violations he committed against them.
The allegations began in 2018, according to the Instagram group, when a student from the American University in Cairo reported that Zaki was harassing her and her friends.
The case ballooned when over 50 other people admitted they had uncomfortable encounters with him, eventually leading to the formation of the group which lists Zaki as having harassed and assaulted around 150 girls, including minors.
Image: In this Dec. 27, 2011, file photo, two women hold up banners in Arabic that read: “Egyptian women, red line,” during a rally supporting women’s right in Cairo, Egypt. The prosecution of a 15-year-old girl who killed a bus driver after he allegedly tried to rape her in July 2019 has reignited debate over the treatment of women in Egypt’s legal system, including blaming female victims of sexual violence and the practice of administering virginity tests. (AP Photo/Ahmed Ali, File)
