Egyptian bus driver publicly shamed after sexually harassing woman

An Egyptian bus driver who allegedly sexually harassed one of his female passengers was publicly shamed by people who caught him in the act.

Photos capturing the incident show the abuser standing on top of his bus with only his underwear on. The images were uploaded to Twitter earlier this week and have since gone viral.

Several tweeps, some of whom claimed they were at the scene, wrote that the man had harassed the passenger after she was left alone on his bus.

When passersby heard her pleas for help, they attacked and cornered the man, publicly shamed him, and didn't let him go until police came and arrested him.

"This a crime and an insult to a human being. This is a jungle, not a country. He made a mistake, he should be handed over to the police and be punished by them."

"Correction: He was handed over to police... people didn't let go of him until authorities arrived at the scene." 

"He was handed over to police, and good on the people who did this and publicly shamed him until officers arrived. If this happens a few more times, we'll no longer have to deal with harassers." 

"So does anyone who does anything like this." 

In recent months, more and more Egyptian women have been standing up to their harassers, making it clear they won't remain silent in the face of abuse. 

Earlier this year, an Egyptian woman who was sexually harassed by a taxi driver refused to let him go unpunished. Filming him, the woman beat the abuser, shamed him, and stopped a police car to report him. The man was later taken to a police station.

In 2017, a brave Egyptian woman also chased and beat her harasser, refusing to let him escape. The man was eventually handed over to the police.

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.