9 October 2022
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) has decided to permanently dismiss its secretary Mohamed Sayed after he was convicted of sexually harassing two female employees in the organization, revealing his identity and the acts he committed. This comes in the implementation of the recommendations of the internal investigation committee and the gender expert of the organization. It also comes in accordance with AFTE’s Anti-Sexual Violence Policy which has been in place since April 2021. AFTE has also decided to deprive the convict of the severance payment for committing sexual harassment repeatedly.
The internal investigation committee and the gender expert looked into the complaints of two female employees against Sayed, and listened to the survivors, witnesses, and the defendant. In the first complaint, Sayed was proven guilty of visual harassment and repeated sexual gestures by the mouth and tongue. In the second complaint, he was proven guilty of touching and moving his penis in front of the complainant.
According to the investigation committee and the gender expert, Sayed refused to apologize for a previous visual harassment incident in which he was convicted. The incident was documented in a video that was accidentally captured by a surveillance camera at AFTE’s office.
AFTE’s director issued a decision to suspend Sayed from work while the investigation was underway. The internal investigation committee and the gender expert conducted their investigations outside the official working hours in order to protect women and implement the Anti-Sexual Violence Policy.
This statement aims to implement the principle of transparency and to protect female employees in other civil society organizations from the convict in case he joins any of them, which may cause harm to women.
