Egypt's highest religious authority says 'all sexual harassment forbidden'

On Monday, in a series of tweets, Al-Azhar Institute - Egypt's highest Sunni Muslim authority - stated that there can be no justification for sexual harassment.

In a statement on the matter, Al-Azhar said that all forms of harassment are "a forbidden act" and constitute to "deviant behavior" and added that "the one who carries it out is a sinner".

"Criminalising sexual harassment must be absolute and free from any condition or context. Justifying sexual harassment with the behavior or clothing of the woman is a misunderstanding, for sexual harassment is an assault on the woman and her freedom and dignity," the statement read.

The statement comes following a series of >recent sexual harassment incidents in Egypt, a country where people often blame women themselves for the widespread problems they face on a daily basis.

Last week, a video capturing the moment tens of men sexually harassed three Egyptian women in one of the country's streets went viral on Twitter. 

In the footage, the women, who all wore the hijab, could be heard screaming for help while the men cornered, pushed, and shoved them around. No passersby were seen approaching the scene or trying to help the women out of the horrific situation.

As usual, a few misguided individuals on social media tried to justify the men's actions by accusing the victims of the assault of "enticing" their harassers.

According to a 2013 >report, released by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced some form of sexual harassment.

A recent study conducted by UN Women in collaboration with Promundo, a Brazilian organization campaigning for gender equality, also revealed that around 43 percent of men in Egypt actually believe that women enjoy getting attention and have no problem with being harassed. 

In addition, according to the same study, three-quarters of men and 84 percent of women polled said that "women who dress provocatively deserve to be harassed".

If a woman takes her harasser to court and he is >convicted, he can face a minimum of six months in prison. If a harasser is found to be a repeat offender, he could potentially face up to five years in prison.

The issue isn't only widespread in >Egypt though, it's also prevalent in other Arab countries, including >Saudi Arabia, >Lebanon, and >Bahrain.