VOA常速英语:埃及人要求为性侵犯受害者伸张正义

It started with an Instagram account,named for its social media advocacy for women.Assault police which picked up a hundred and sixty four thousand followers in less than two weeks,On it about a hundred women and girls claimed to have been harassed,sexually assaulted or raped by Ahmed Bassam Zaki,a former student at the prestigious American University in Cairo,Most women are usually afraid to tell anyone,you don't know if you tell your family,if you will be supported or not,or you may be beaten or touched again by the man who assaulted you.Egypt has long struggled with the problem of sexual harassment,A United Nations study found that nearly all Egyptian women say, at some point,they have been victims of some form of it,But the Zaki case has proven to be different,After the women and girls spoke up the man was arrested,and prosecutors say he will be held as six alleged cases are investigated,

Zaki's family has been mostly silent,but they did tell NBC News,the charges are false,and that this is an Internet pylon,But more social media accounts keep popping up, with users posting accusations against other alleged sexual abusers,in what some commentators are calling Egypt's MeToo movement.what's important is that this proves social media can have a very big role,if people participate,the reaction was swift,In 48 hours they captured the accused.Since the arrest, Egyptian lawmakers have adopted a bill,that says victims' names must be withheld from public documents,to protect them from threats after they make an accusation,This will encourage more victims to come forward, but there is a lot more to do, say lawyers.There should be an independent department in a judiciary, that only takes cases related to violence against women,and it should not only deal with rapes,but with other violence and harassment,including between married couples,Prosecutors say Zaki has confessed to blackmailing women and girls,but at the same time denies all other charges,Heather Murdoch VOA news in Istanbul with Hamada Elrasam in Cairo.