Khaled Ali sued over sexual harassment allegations

CAIRO – 22 February 2018: Lawyer Samir Sabry submitted an official complaint to the public prosecutor against veteran lawyer and human rights activist Khaled Ali demanding that he be tried over sexual harassment allegations.

Sabry in his complaint said that several members of the Bread and Freedom Party, and especially head of the women affairs committee Elham Eidarous, have already accused Ali of sexual harassment and demanded that he be questioned officially.

He added that his admission and apology which were included in the statement published on his Facebook page on February 19 prove that the allegations are true.

A statement Issued by the Journalist Youth Front Wednesday argued that incidents of sexual harassment shouldn’t be ignored without taking official and serious legal action towards it; that a real investigation against Ali would refrain such abuses from occurring again.

In a long statement issued on February 19,

Ali announced his resignation

as a member of the Bread and Freedom Party and as counselor for ECESR. He apologized about the sexual harassment allegations that were circulated against him by an anonymous girl though an e-mail shared by her with a small group of friends.

Moreover, Ali said that he is feeling sorry for the harm that he might have caused previously for that girl and for affecting her feelings or making her think of him as a harasser. He apologized to his kids, family and all the women he worked with previously.

Ali made it clear that he was surprised by the e-mail that went viral between the NGO members. He said that he used to work with her (the girl who sent the e-mail) and that he had nothing but respect for her during the long period they worked together.

Lawyer and human activist Khaled Ali was formerly a presidential candidate during the 2012 elections; however, he only amassed 134,056 votes, according to the National Election Authority’s (NEA) statement. Also, on November 6, 2017, Ali officially announced his intention to run for the 2018 presidential elections, but later retracted his decision for political reasons. Ali is also considered one of the left-wing political figures in Egypt. He has several well-known political stances that earned him a popular base. It is unconventional for an Egyptian politician to apologize and resign after being charged with sexual harassment; more stubborn attitudes are common in similar cases.