Egypt`s el-Sissi weighs in on sexual harassment

Cairo: Egypt`s new president has weighed in on one of the nation`s most troubling social ills, ordering his interior minister to do whatever it takes to combat sexual harassment. A presidential spokesman says Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi also called for the decisive implementation of a new law that punishes convicted harassers with up to five years in prison.

A string of sexual assaults on women during celebrations marking el-Sissi`s inauguration on Sunday, including a mass attack on a mother and her teenage daughter, marred the occasion and sparked outrage. The spokesman, Ehab Badawi, said today that el-Sissi also instructed Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim to honor a policeman who came to the teenager`s rescue. The nation`s chief prosecutor, meanwhile, ordered three men arrested in connection with sexual assaults on Sunday immediately put on trial.