Mail newspaper / GB
Muslim Brotherhood 'paying gangs to go out and rape women and beat men
protesting in Egypt' as thousands of demonstrators pour on to the streets
* Activists claim there have been nearly 20 attacks in the last 10
days
* Country has seen rise in mob sex attacks on protestors in the last
year
* Demonstrators in Tahrir Square yesterday protested against a draft
constitution approved by allies of President Morsi
* Muslim Brotherhood today marched in support of the president
By _Ruth Whitehead_
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Ruth+Whitehead)
PUBLISHED:07:37 EST, 1 December 2012
Egypt's ruling party is paying gangs of thugs to sexually assault women
protesting in Cairo's Tahrir Square against President Mohamed Morsi,
activists said.
They also said the Muslim Brotherhood is paying gangs to beat up men who
are taking part in the latest round of protests, which followed a decree by
President Morsi to give himself sweeping new powers.
It comes as the Muslim Brotherhood co-ordinated a demonstration today in
support of President Mohamed Morsi, who is rushing through a constitution to
try to defuse opposition fury over his newly expanded powers.
Just 24 hours earlier around 200,000 people gathered in Tahrir Square, the
heart of last year's revolution which toppled President Hosni Mubarak,
yesterday to protest against a new draft constitution.
Large marches from around Cairo flowed into the square, chanting
'Constitution: Void!' and The people want to bring down the regime.'
But amid the calls for democracy a sinister threat has emerged.
Magda Adly, the director of the Nadeem Centre for Human Rights, said that
under Mubarak, the Government paid thugs to beat male protestors and
sexually assault women.
'This is still happening now,' she told The Times. 'I believe thugs are
being paid money to do this ... the Muslim Brotherhood have the same
political approaches as Mubarak,' she said.
One protestor, Yasmine, told the newspaper how she had been in the square
filming the demonstrations for a few hours when the crowd suddenly turned.
Before she knew what was happening, about 50 men had surrounded her and
began grabbing her breasts. She said they ripped off her clothes, starting
with her headscarf and for nearly an hour, indecently assaulted her with
their hands.
A few men tried to help her but they were beaten away. Eventually some
residents who had seen the attack from their windows came to her aid and an
elderly couple pulled her into their home. She suffered internal injuries and
was unable to walk for a week.
Four of Yasmine's friends were also sexually assaulted in the square that
day, in the summer.
Afaf el-Sayed, a journalist and activist, told the newspaper she was
assaulted by a group of men while protesting in Tahrir Square just over a
month
ago and she was sure her attackers were 'thugs from the Muslim
Brotherhood'.
In February 2011 the correspondent for the American network CBS, Lara
Logan,endured a half-hour sexual assault in Tahrir Square by a group of men.
She said after the ordeal that she had been 'raped with their hands'.
While the exact frequency of these attacks is unknown, activists have
reported nearly 20 attacks in the last ten days and say there has been a
dramatic increase in mob sex attacks on protestors in the last year.
Most attacks take place in one particular corner of the square, at roughly
the same time every evening, and usually starts with a group of men
forming a human chain around women as if to protect them.
Yasmine said she was almost sure the assault was planned. She managed to
throw her camera to a friend and was able to watch the footage later. She
told The Times: 'Just before the attack it looks like men are getting into
position. They look like they're up to something, they don't look like random
protestors.'
The newspaper spoke to two men who admitted they were paid to target
female protestors. Victor and Tutu, both in their thirties, said they operate
in
a group of around 65 local men and got paid between £10 and £20 a time.
But they would not reveal who pays them.
'We're told to go out and sexually harass girls so they leave the
demonstration,' Victor told The Times. He said the aim was to cause disruption
and
instil fear in protesters. He said members of the public sometimes joined
in.
Protestors in Tahrir Square yesterday angrily vowed to bring down a draft
constitution approved by allies of President Morsi.
The protests have highlighted an increasingly united opposition leadership
of prominent liberal and secular politicians trying to direct public anger
against Morsi and the Islamists - a contrast to the leaderless youth
uprising last year which toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Figures from a new leadership coalition took the stage to address the
crowds. The coalition, known as the National Salvation Front, includes
prominent democracy advocate Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, leftist
Hamdeen Sabbahi and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa.
'We are determined to continue with all peaceful means, whatever it takes
to defend our legitimate rights,' ElBaradei told the crowd. He later posted
on Twitter that Morsi and his allies are "staging a coup against
democracy" and that the regime's legitimacy 'is eroding'.
Sabbahi vowed protests would go on until 'we topple the constitution'.
The opposition announced plans for an intensified street campaign of
protests and civil disobedience and even a possible march on Morsi's
presidential palace to prevent him from calling a nationwide referendum on the
draft,
which it must pass to come into effect. Top judges announced Friday they
may refuse to monitor any referendum, rendering it invalid.
If a referendum is called, 'we will go to him at the palace and topple
him,' insisted one protester, Yasser Said, a businessman who said he voted for
Morsi in last summer's presidential election.
Islamists, however, are gearing up as well. The Muslim Brotherhood drummed
up supporters for its own mass rally today and boasted the turnout would
show that the public supports Morsi's efforts to push through a
constitution.
Brotherhood activists in several cities handed out fliers calling for
people to come out and "support Islamic law". A number of Muslim clerics in
Friday sermons in the southern city of Assiut called the president's opponents
"enemies of God and Islam".
The week-long unrest has already seen clashes between Islamists and the
opposition that left two dead and hundreds injured. On Friday, Morsi
opponents and supporters rained stones and firebombs on each other in the
cities of
Alexandria and Luxor.
The Islamist-led assembly that worked on the draft for months passed it in
a rushed, 16-hour session that lasted until sunrise on Friday.
The vote was abruptly moved up to pass the draft before Egypt's
Constitutional Court rules on Sunday whether to dissolve the assembly.
Liberal,
secular and Christian members and secular members had already quit the council
to protest what they call Islamists' hijacking of the process.
The draft was to be sent to Morsi today to decide on a date for a
referendum, possibly in mid-December.
The draft has a distinctive Islamic bent - enough to worry many that civil
liberties could be restricted, though its provisions for enforcing Sharia,
or Islamic law, are not as firm as ultra-conservatives wished.
Protests were first sparked when Morsi last week issued decrees granting
himself sweeping powers that neutralized the judiciary. Morsi said the move
was needed to stop the courts - where anti-Islamist or Mubarak-era judges
hold many powerful posts - from dissolving the assembly and further delaying
Egypt's transition.
Opponents, however, accused Morsi of grabbing near-dictatorial powers by
sidelining the one branch of government he doesn't control.
--
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