An appeals court in East Port Said sentenced the manager of the Al Safwa Utopia Hotel to one year in prison and fined him 50,000 Egyptian pounds (about $950) after convicting him of gender-based discrimination.
The ruling followed his refusal on Jan. 4 to book a room for journalist Alaa Saad, citing “internal instructions” that barred women from staying without a male companion, according to human rights lawyer Fatima Serag, who spoke to Al Manassa.
The court overturned the first-instance judgment that had acquitted the defendant, deciding instead to punish him with imprisonment and a fine. The human rights lawyer described the ruling as “very important” for halting discriminatory practices against women in refusing to house them alone in hotels.
During today’s session, Saad’s lawyer, Serag, submitted a legal memorandum asserting that the incident represents explicit gender-based discrimination. It noted that the defendant inquired about the journalist’s gender and, upon learning she was a woman, immediately refused to provide her with a room. Serag presented this as evidence of preferential treatment for men in the case of individual bookings.
Serag emphasized that the defendant did not stop at gender discrimination but added another discriminatory restriction by refusing to house her alone because she is single and not accompanied by a male guardian. This represents a detraction from her constitutionally guaranteed civil capacity and brands her with a dependency not required by any law or regulation.
She emphasized that the defendant’s insistence on barring women from staying alone is not only a legal violation but a practice fraught with grave social and security risks. She added that such policies represent a defiance of the regulatory framework established by the state and its oversight bodies, including the Ministry of Tourism and local authorities.
The memorandum, a copy of which was obtained by Al Manassa, indicated that such decisions may expose women to danger by pushing them to resort to unsafe or unlicensed accomodation, in addition to their impact on freedom of movement and work, especially in governorates of a logistical and commercial nature like Port Said.
Regarding the appeal session, Saad told Al Manassa that both the defendant and his lawyer failed to appear. She noted that the judge asked her directly whether the refusal was based solely on her gender. “I told him yes,” Saad said. “He informed me there were verbal instructions to that effect.”
Journalist Alaa Saad refused a room because she is a womanSaad added that the court viewed a screenshot documenting the incident of discrimination that she had previously published on her social media accounts.
The Sharq Summary Misdemeanor Court in Port Said had previously based its acquittal of the defendant on the “absence of criminal intent,” justifying it by stating that the hotel’s policy of preventing the housing of unaccompanied women constitutes an “internal regulation.”
Earlier this month, the Port Said East Prosecution filed an appeal against the verdict, demanding the suspension of its execution and the retrial of the accused hotel manager for the same charge.
This move was welcomed by the New Woman Foundation, which considered it a “positive step supporting urgent action to enable the victim to exercise her inherent right to access justice and to correct the legal flaw that marred the acquittal.”
New Woman said the case had again thrown a harsh spotlight on what it called the current legislative and institutional vacuum, and urged swift implementation of the constitutional requirement under Article 53 to establish an “independent anti-discrimination commission.”
The foundation said the reasoning behind the acquittal showed that the absence of a comprehensive anti-discrimination law “provides cover for violations committed under the guise of internal rules or private regulations,” and stressed the need for immediate legislative action to prevent a repeat of practices that undermine women’s dignity and rights.
The Public Prosecution had referred the defendant to trial as the manager responsible for the hotel after he refused to accommodate the victim on her own, describing his conduct as “an act that would create discrimination among individuals on the basis of sex and result in the erosion of the principle of equal opportunity and social justice.”
Prosecutors also called for the application of Article 161 bis of the Penal Code, which stipulates prison and a fine of no less than 30,000 Egyptian pounds ($556) and no more than 50,000 pounds ($926) for anyone who commits or refrains from an act that leads to discrimination among individuals on the basis of sex.
