Landmark ruling puts normal life in reach for child of Egyptian rape survivor

CAIRO, Aug 25 - As Egypt’s new academic year approaches, Amal Abdel Hameed is hopeful her daughter will be able to enroll officially in school for the first time since she was born as a result of a rape nearly eight years ago.

Under Egyptian law, Abdel Hameed’s daughter had been barred from obtaining a birth certificate — and thus lacked official access to essentially all public services — because she was born outside wedlock. She had attended school but could not take exams.

Her situation changed when Abdel Hameed won a landmark court ruling, the written judgment for which was issued last month, that recognized the rapist as the child’s father.

The appeals court ruling, based partly on DNA evidence, was the first of its kind by an Egyptian court, lawyers say. Advocates hope it will set a precedent for thousands of other children in similar situations.

"It was like I was in a nightmare," Abdel Hameed, 27, told Reuters in an interview at her home in the Nile Delta. "For eight years, I’ve been trying to get my rights."

Abdel Hameed became pregnant when a school classmate raped her in 2018. The man was convicted four years later but Egypt's "personal status" law, which is based largely on Islamic sharia law, meant the child's paternity could only be established through marriage.

Abdel Hameed went public, appearing on TV and social media, which stirred controversy in a country where open discussion of sexual assault is rare despite campaigners' recent efforts to encourage survivors to speak out.

"A lot of people told me, 'Why did you do this? Why did you come out on TV and everything?'," Abdel Hameed said.

"I only got my rights when I spoke to the media and made my voice heard. Apart from that, it was just a case moving between courts, being rejected or shelved — nothing more."

The judicial ruling followed a February edict by the top scholarly body of Al-Azhar, a prestigious centre of Islamic learning in Cairo, which said that in Abdel Hameed's daughter's case, DNA testing and the rape conviction could be used to establish paternity.

The Al-Azhar edict also clears the way for Egyptian lawmakers to reform the relevant provisions of the personal status law, which is under debate in parliament, Abdel Hameed’s lawyer, El-Sayed Badra, told Reuters.

That could make it easier for others to obtain birth certificates. "I have a fatwa, I have a judicial ruling, but at the same time I don’t have an explicit, precise legal provision," Badra said.

The State Information Service, which liaises with foreign media in Egypt, told Reuters any amendments to the draft personal status law would depend on the outcome of parliamentary discussions.

It added that protecting children was a priority for the state and that children "should not have to bear the consequences of a crime committed by another person."

Azza Soliman, head of the board of trustees at the Center for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance, an Egyptian nonprofit, said the edict could also encourage other rape survivors to try to prove their children’s lineage in court.

"The verdict is definitely a win and a very big achievement," she said. REUTERS

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