Egypt Gets Modern about Sexual Assault

The Arabs - maybe getting "with it"? 

In Cairo, Sharif Gomaa pulled his van alongside Noha Rushdie Saleh last June and grabbed her breast so hard that she fell. Now, he's going to jail for three years - the first time an Egyptian has EVER gone to prison for sexual harassment. 

But it wasn't easy to take him there. In Egypt, grabbin' a boob is almost like saying a very naughty hello. According to a Reuters poll, an insane 83% of women have been harassed but only 3% ever report the incident. Police don't listen to complaints and most Egyptians think if harassment happens, usually the woman brought it on herself because she didn't wear a veil or hijab - yet harassment occurs even in those cases (72% of the 83% polled)!

After the harassment occured, Noha called out for people to help her, but they told her she was crazy. She jumped on the hood of her attacker's car to keep him from driving off. Noha and her friend managed to drag Gomaa into the police station - where a policeman refused to investigate the complaint. She actually had to put Gomaa and a policeman in her car and drive them to the booking station herself. 

Even though the judge called the case "trivial" (for shame!), Noha got her man in the end, and for that we're going to say "cheers" over some tea and cakes.