https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...gged-Christian-woman-naked-Egypt-cleared.html
Three men who stripped and dragged an elderly Christian woman through an Egyptian village over rumours that her son was having an affair with a Muslim woman have been acquitted by a court.
Soad Thabet, now 74, was the victim of the sectarian attack in 2016 which saw her paraded naked by a mob of vigilantes in Al-Karm.
The attack was accompanied by the torching of Coptic Christian homes and villagers angrily calling for the religious minority to be expelled.
The three defendants - a father and his two sons - were acquitted after a re-trial where they were initially sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Local Coptic newspaper Watani reported Thabet was distraught upon hearing the verdict.
'After all these years, how can they be let off after they stripped me naked in front of everyone to see? What can I say? God will bring back my rights,' she said according to the publication.
Leading rights group Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemned the verdict in a statement urging the public prosecution to lodge an appeal.
'Perpetrators of sectarian attacks must be held accountable for their actions in order to avoid their repetition,' the watchdog said.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi lambasted the violence at the time after it turned into a national controversy, describing it as 'unacceptable'.
Three men who stripped and dragged an elderly Christian woman through an Egyptian village over rumours that her son was having an affair with a Muslim woman have been acquitted by a court.
Soad Thabet, now 74, was the victim of the sectarian attack in 2016 which saw her paraded naked by a mob of vigilantes in Al-Karm.
The attack was accompanied by the torching of Coptic Christian homes and villagers angrily calling for the religious minority to be expelled.
The three defendants - a father and his two sons - were acquitted after a re-trial where they were initially sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Local Coptic newspaper Watani reported Thabet was distraught upon hearing the verdict.
'After all these years, how can they be let off after they stripped me naked in front of everyone to see? What can I say? God will bring back my rights,' she said according to the publication.
Leading rights group Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemned the verdict in a statement urging the public prosecution to lodge an appeal.
'Perpetrators of sectarian attacks must be held accountable for their actions in order to avoid their repetition,' the watchdog said.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi lambasted the violence at the time after it turned into a national controversy, describing it as 'unacceptable'.
