Last December , the Egyptian President signed Law 185 of 2023 to amend some provisions of the penal code to impose stricter penalties for sexual harassment.
The amendments are as follows:
Criminalizing certain images of offences in a public or private place, sexual harassment and bullying if the offence is committed in the workplace, on a public or private means of transport or on two or more persons, given the seriousness of such offences to society and their psychosocial consequences for the victim and his or her relatives.
Article (306), aggravating the penalty of being subjected to sexual or pornographic objects, reprimands or insinuations, whether by reference, by word, by act or by any means, including means of telecommunications, radio, electronic or any other technical means, by a term of up to three years' imprisonment and not more than five years' imprisonment. and a fine of not less than LE 200 thousand and not more than LE 300 thousand or one of these penalties if the offense is committed in the workplace, in a means of transport or in two or more persons or if the offender carries a weapon or if the offender's act is repeated through prosecution and tracing of the victim.
Increasing the penalty of sexual harassment in the workplace or means of transport to a term of up to 7 years' imprisonment, which stipulates: If the offender is an ascendant of the victim or a person involved in the victim's upbringing, or has authority over the victim, or is a wage servant thereof, or if he is a person with a functional, family or educational authority over the victim, or if he exerts any pressure on the victim because the circumstances allow him to. or if the offense was committed in the workplace or a means of transport or if there were two or more offenders, or if the offender carries a weapon, the penalty shall be at least seven years of imprisonment. If there are two or more aggravating circumstances set out in this paragraph, the penalty shall be at least 10 years' imprisonment.
Article (309), the amendments also included an aggravation of the punishment of bullying, if the offense occurred in the workplace and the means of transport, which stipulated: Bullying shall be punishable by a term of not less than one year's imprisonment and a fine of not less than 20,000 pounds and not more than 100,000 pounds or one of these penalties, if the offense is committed at the workplace, on a public or private means of transport, or by two or more persons, or if the offender is a victim's ascendant, educator or supervisor, or has authority over the offender, or is a servant of the offender under the law or a court order. If two or more of the previous aggravating circumstances meet, the minimum penalty shall be doubled.
