EGYPT: Proposed domestic violence bill that would target abusive men who beat their wives or female family members creating uproar

The Egyptian parliament is currently reviewing a proposed amendment to Article 242 of Penal Code No. 58 of 1937, stipulating harsher punishment for domestic abuse and violence. If approved by the House of Representatives, an abusive husband or male family member may face a jail sentence of up to five years and a minimum of three years instead of the current maximum one-year sentence.

Al-Monitor The amendment put forward by Amal Salama, a member of parliament’s Media Committee, aims to curb the high divorce rates in the country.

The proposed revision has stirred controversy in Egypt and prompted attacks on Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb by women’s rights advocates over remarks he made on Egyptian TV in 2019. This, after MBC Masr broadcast an excerpt from Tayeb’s TV appearance on a Ramadan show three years ago.   

In the clip, Tayeb says it is permissible for a husband to hit a disobedient spouse “to preserve the family.” “The Quran advocates symbolic beatings as a means of disciplining a disobedient wife, without causing her harm or injury,” notes the sheikh. He cautions that “the spanking is not without limits. It is permissible on condition that no bones are broken and no organs are harmed.”

The sheikh was clearly referring to a Quranic verse (Surat al Nisaa) that addresses disobedient or defiant wives: “But those wives from whom you fear arrogance, first advise them; then, if they persist, forsake them in bed. And finally, strike them.

Just last month, A 21-year-old Egyptian woman went live on Facebook to plead for help, saying her husband was beating her, leaving her with serious injuries. 

According to the National Council for Women (NCW), the state body concerned with protecting women’s rights, 86% of wives in Egypt suffer spousal abuse. In August, the NCW put the number of “women at risk of domestic violence” at 8 million annually. The statistic may be even higher considering that it is culturally unacceptable for battered wives to report incidents of domestic violence to the police.

Tayeb has come under fire in recent days over his 2019 comments on domestic abuse. In a telephone interview broadcast on MBC Masr Feb. 1, Islamic researcher and TV talk show host Islam Behery lambasted Tayeb. “With all due respect to the sheikh, his opinion does not concern us. Al-Azhar’s role as a religious institution is merely consultative according to the constitution, and Egypt is a civil state,” he said.

Fatemah Khafagy, a gender consultant and former ombudswoman with NCW, warned that “violence has become endemic” in society. “It is not only husbands who beat their wives, but parents too beat their children and teachers beat their students,” she told Al-Monitor.

“We need a societal debate on the proposed amendment to the law that includes civil society organizations and women’s rights groups as there are several means of deterring domestic abuse other than prosecution and detention,” she said. Khafagy cited teaching children tolerance at a young age and doing away with hate speech in the media as alternative options.