Hisham Mubarak Law Center
The Coordinating Committee for Labor Rights and Liberties
Sexual Harassment Afflicts Ghazl al-Mahalla Plant
Threatening Female Workers of Sexual Assault
Transferring Labor Leaders Arbitrarily and Forbidding them from Entering the Plant
Police Station Refrains from Reporting
Prosecutor Orders Immediate Investigations
November 3, 2008: In response to the protesting stand-off held by Ghazl al-Mahalla workers on Thursday and Saturday, some workers affiliated to the plant's management had assaulted and beaten Amal al-Said, a female worker, on Saturday evening November 1st. Not only had she been assaulted but also she suffered sexual harassment, touching some sensitive spots on her body, stripping her jacket and her head scarf violently, and calling her names. Other workers have suffered also from similar acts: Wedad al-Demerdash was beaten and threated to be sexually assaulted before her husband and children who will be assaulted too; Muhammad al-Atar was also beaten and called names. When Al Mahalla Police Station Second, where the workers headed to, had refused to report the incidents, then HMLC's lawyers headed to the Public Prosecutor's Office and reported the incidents and Al Mahalla Police Station's position. The prosecutor ordered a report to be filed immediately and investigations to be opened and yesterday the testimonies of workers were taken. Once the company heard that the workers have accused the company's general commissioner of inciting these incidents, the company issued transferring decisions. The workers who were transferred arbitrarily are: Muhammad al Atar, transferred from Al Mahalla plant to Alexandria storehouses; Kareem al Bohiri, transferred to Cairo storehouses; Amal Al Said and Wedad al Demerdash were transferred from being workers in ready-made garments plant to workers in the plant's nursery.
Although the transfer decisions have been issued yesterday, the transferred workers didn't receive any copies of these decisions and also were forbidden from entering the company with the help of police and state security personnels.
HMLC and CCLRL not only raise grave concerns of such criminal acts and announce solidarity with the suffered workers, they also call for the public prosecutor's office to finish as quickly as possible from investigations and refer the criminals (perpetrators and inciters) to the criminal court. They also call for labor, political and human rights organizations to announce solidarity with the four workers, demand abolishing of the transferring decisions and bringing the criminals to justice.
