CAIRO — Nada Ibrahim did not expect that her happy days in love would become a painful memory. The 24-year-old had met her ex-boyfriend on Facebook. They both studied at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Their relationship developed into a love story, but it became tense over time.
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“Every so often, he would make a problem out of nothing, leave me and then return, so I decided to end this relationship,” she said. But the young man didn’t accept her ending their relationship, and began blackmailing her using her personal photos and videos that she had shared with him, telling her “Either you come back to me or I will send the photos to your family,” Ibrahim recalled.
The videos and photos did not contain anything that Ibrahim was ashamed of, but like many girls in Egypt, she bowed to his blackmail.
Fear of stigma
There are no official statistics on the rate of cyber blackmail. But some1,038 cybercrimes, including blackmail, were reported to Egyptian police in September and October 2018, according to a study conducted by the Communications and Information Technology Committee of the Egyptian House of Representatives when lawmakers deliberated a draft Anti-Cybercrime legislation.
Another study by Speak Up Initiative, which encourages women to speak about and report such crimes, found that cyber blackmail is the most serious cybercrime committed against women in Egypt; 90% of cyber blackmail victims were women. Such crimes are usually conducted through emails, text messages, phone calls, social media and digital games.
Only 10% of women report such blackmail to the police.
The study found that 47% of suspects usually blackmail their victims for sexual reasons, while 19% demand money, and 34% have varied reasons including restoring a broken romantic relationship and getting job promotions.
Both studies found that only 10% of women report such blackmail to the police. Like Ibrahim, many girls and women participating in the studies said they did not report them to avoid social scandal — including harm to their family’s honor and reputation — or because they don’t know enough about their blackmailer.
أكتر من ٥٠% من ضحـايا الابتـزاز متوسط أعمارهم بين ١٩ لـ ٢٤ سنة..
More than 50% of extortion victims are between the ages of 19 and 24 years old.
? To read the full report: https://t.co/HVZP3D9pKQ#عشان_الضحية_الجاية_تعيش#SaveTheNextVictim pic.twitter.com/VgnAsE6alZ
— Speak Up (@SpeakUp_00) April 17, 2024
Patriarchal system
Egyptian law provides protection to the perpetrator in cases known as honor crimes. This encourages blackmailers knowing that their acts will remain unpunished if it is not covered up by the family for fear of scandal, according to the Speak Up study.
“The patriarchal system always gives these blackmailers entitlements and justifications to those blackmailers to commit all kinds of cyber violence against women and girls without accountability or punishment,” said Mai Saleh, a researcher in gender and social issues, said. The absence of a culture of support for women for fear of societal stigma, and the excessive protection chatter men “makes blackmail an easy tool in the hands of the blackmailers.”
It is in this context that Marwa Mohamed’s ex-fiancé blackmailed her via Facebook Messenger. He created a fake Facebook account, disguised as a female gynecologist and sent her a friend request. She accepted and began asking the fake doctor health questions.
She suddenly found that her fiancé knew about her conversation with the fake gynecologist. He ended their engagement, and her family didn’t report the incident to police for fear of social stigma, she said. “They blamed me for talking (with the gynecologist) on these matters. They didn’t understand me,” the 25-year-old said.
“The law has flaws that ultimately lead to the acquittal of the blackmailer.”
The 90% of victims who do report blackmail to the police often deal with inexperienced officials, or are blamed and bullied.
There is also the question of Egyptian law. The country’s criminal code punishes those who violate people’s private lives with a minimum of six months in prison, and a fine of up to about ,000. Yet Intisar al-Saeed, a human rights lawyer and chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Cairo Foundation for Development and Law, said that this law is not entirely fair.
“It has flaws that ultimately lead to the acquittal of the blackmailer. And women and girls are then seen as the guilty ones,” she said, noting that the situation can push some women to end their lives. Al-Saeed cites the example of a university student who reportedly killed herself after being blackmailed by another student who threatened to publish her node images.
Al-Saeed called for amendments to the law to include all forms of digital violence against women including all kinds of sexual harassment and blackmail.
? In Egypt, when victims voice their opinions online, social media platforms turn into hostile spaces.
It is not only the victims who endure insults, threats, stigmatisation and blackmail, but their families as well.
More on DRM – https://t.co/Zf3PTFsOCa pic.twitter.com/cGOoJDhKkT
— Digital Rights Monitor (@DRM_News) June 16, 2023
Community initiatives
In parallel, many civil society groups and initiatives provide assistance to victims and cyber violence, including training courses on digital safety. The state-run National Council for Women also established a specialized unit to combat violence against women.
Such initiatives include Qawm, meaning Resist, which was established in mid-2020 to fight cyber crimes including defamation, blackmail and insults, according to Qawm founder Muhammad Al-Yamani.
“The initiative encourages women to break their silence and report any incident,” he said. “Reporting is the first means to guarantee the victim’s safety and freedom.”
Ibrahim contacted Qawm to help her following the incident with her ex-boyfriend. She wanted to address the issue in a confidential way and without taking legal action for fear of her family. The initiative contacted the blackmailer, and threatened him to take legal procedures using the evidence it obtained from Ibrahim.
The man was forced to sign a document that he won’t blackmail her. He also apologized in exchange for not proceeding in the legal action, she said. While Ibrahim was able to resolve the situation thanks to the initiative’s support, she says she still suffers from the psychological pain, and the lack of support from her family and society.
