General Prosecutor Hesham Barakat has referred 13 suspects to a criminal trial for involvement in sexually assaulting and raping women in Tahrir Square during celebrations of Egypt’s newly-elected president Abdel Fattah on 3 June.
State TV website Egynews said the referral came after investigators had interrogated 52 witnesses and reviewed forensic evidence. It said the suspects were criminal elements who had used to harass women during protests at the square.
The incidents, which were uploaded to YouTube and quickly went viral through social networks, sparked a local and international condemnation, with authorities urged to further toughen penalties in a recently-introduced anti-harassment law.
President Sisi had visited one of the victims at hospital and ordered a crackdown against the crime.
The prosecutors accuse the suspects of subjecting the victims to kidnapping, physical torture, rape, mugging, all punishable with life sentence according to the state TV.
The 42-year-old victim sustained severe burns when she hit a boiling pot belonging to a street vendor trying to escape the attack. The assault caused the victim a 5-centimeter cut in her genital area, according to investigators. Her daughter survived a similar attack after she was rescued by civilians.
The suspects similarly assaulted six other women on 8 June. One of the victims said the defendants threatened to kidnap her children if she did not submit to their agressive sexual advances. Medical examiners said the victims' bodies bore signs of burning, dragging, pinching, beating and biting.
