Appeal to Egyptian authorities to release Lebanese victim of sexual harassment

After the Egyptian Misdemeanour Court recently sentenced the victim of sexual harassment, Mona Mazbouh, to 8 years in prison (c.f: https://goo.gl/f83jkR), the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) held a press conference yesterday during which the Mazbouh family and a number of human rights activists appealed the Egyptian authorities to release her and to the Lebanese government to intervene to this effect. The family did not want to escalate the matter and suggested viewing it from a perspective of a mental disorder, Al Akhbar daily wrote, noting that no one has attempted to question the key issue which is that Mazbouh has been sexually harassed in Egypt. Mazbouh’s father said his daughter, a schizophrenic patient, was not fully aware of what she did, calling on concerned authorities in Egypt and Lebanon to urgently intervene to issue a special amnesty, alerting that the appeal hearing is on July 27, that is five days from now. For her part, CLDH program coordinator, Josiane Noun, while condemning Mazbouh’s act, considered that the damage the Egypt Court’s ruling inflicted on the North African state is many times more than the harm caused by the alleged defamatory video Mazbouh posted. The only crime in this case is sexual harassment of which Mona Mazbouh was a clear victim. (Al Akhbar, July 25 2018)
 
Previous related news:
Lebanese woman victim of sexual harassment sentenced to prison in Egypt