Egypt’s Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday that it arrested a foreign man following the publishing of a video of him harassing a local Egyptian girl in the country.
The ministry added that the foreign man was referred to the prosecution.
The announcement comes hours following the plea of many, including women’s rights activists, to the government to take action, as a video went viral featuring a renowned Brazilian plastic surgeon and influencer ‘V.S’ mocking and sexually harassing in Portuguese an Egyptian woman selling papyrus in an unidentified bazaar in Egypt.
In the video, the woman smiles as she shows him papyrus papers while he speaks in Portuguese in a sexual way, taking advantage of her ignorance with his language.
The video was originally shared on his Instagram story before he made his Instagram account private. He also closed his Facebook (FB) page. The last known location for him in Egypt before closing his FB page was in Luxor.
The video went viral in Brazil in the past 48 hours, with many condemning the behaviour of the influencer and how he took advantage of the Egyptian vendor’s ignorance.
Brazilian activists reached out to ‘Speak Up’, an Egyptian anti-sexual harassment page, and shared the story to bring justice for the clueless woman. Several Egyptian anti-sexual harassment Facebook pages and accounts spoke about the incident when it became viral.
The #Hold_the_Brazilian_harasser_accountable hashtag in Arabic has been top trending in Egypt for several hours on Twitter.
According to some sources, the Brazilian influencer was arrested while attempting to leave the country.
Millions of Egyptian women fall victim to sexual harassment on a daily basis.
Egypt criminalised sexual harassment in 2014, with punishments including jail terms ranging from six months to three years and/or hefty fines.
Last year, the Egyptian Parliament passed a law to keep the identity of victims of sexual assault and harassment confidential to protect their reputation and encourage them to file police reports.
