On June 19th, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) obtained a seven-year prison sentence against "A.S.H." on charges of defaming his ex-wife and her sister and blackmailing them using their photos.

The case dates back to November 2023, when the wife got divorced, and the husband threatened and blackmailed her and her sister, which prompted them to file a complaint against him in May 2024.

The investigations lasted nearly ten months. The prosecution referred the defendant to trial last January, charging him with threatening his ex-wife to disclose personal matters by publishing photos taken during their marriage. He threatened revenge on her after she obtained a divorce ruling to force her to give up the custody of their children as well as the custody domicile. He also blackmailed his ex-wife's sister with pictures that were taken surreptitiously to obtain a sexual benefit. He was also charged with infringing on the privacy of the victims and creating an online account to commit these crimes. The Public Prosecution demanded that the defendant be punished under Articles 309 bis/1, items b, 2 and 327/1 of the Penal Code and Articles 1, 12, 27, and 38 of the Cybercrime Law No. 175 of 2018.

The list of indictment evidence was based on the testimonies of the two victims and the police captain who conducted the investigation, as well as the defendant's admission that he owned the mobile phone number from which the written threats and the photos and clips taken of the victims were sent at the time of the incident.

The victims' and EIPR lawyers attended the hearing on April 20th, demanding that the defendant pay five hundred thousand and one Egyptian pounds in temporary compensation. The defendant participated in the June 17th hearing in person along with his lawyer. After hearing the defence of both parties, the court adjourned the case to June 19th to issue a verdict while keeping the defendant in custody. At its last session, the court sentenced the defendant to seven years in prison.

The importance of the ruling lies in its response to a behaviour that has become common in society, where husbands blackmail their wives during their spousal relationship or after divorce with intimate photos or videos taken during the marriage period to force them to give up their rights or otherwise defame them.