Nine people have been arrested in Egypt over the alleged gangrape of a woman in a Cairo Hotel six years ago.
The incident reportedly occurred at the Fairmont Nile City Hotel in Cairo in 2014.
A new suspect, Omar Hafez, was arrested and detained on Sunday on the orders of the Egyptian Public Prosecution on Sunday.
Before Hafez’s arrest on 28 August 2020, eight people had been arrested in connection with the incident.
Though the rape happened sometime in August 2014, it gained prominence after a video clip of the incident went viral on social media in July 2020.
In the viral video, an Instagram user accused a group of young men of being involved in a gang rape following a dance party at the luxurious hotel.
Seven defendants in the case left Egypt via Cairo International Airport in July, days after the alleged crime went viral on social media.
Three of the fleeing suspects were said to have been arrested in Lebanon, but the country says two other suspects fled the country.
Another defendant in the case, Amir Zayed, was arrested earlier as he attempted to flee Egypt and is being detained pending investigation.
The case so far involves a total of nine suspects. The whereabouts of the remaining suspects are currently unknown.
The suspects in the case, which has gained widespread attention on social media over the past two months, reportedly hail from affluent and powerful families in Egypt.
The rape case has been under investigation by Egyptian authorities since August 4, following a complaint filed about the incident with the country’s prosecutor-general.
The complaint was first sent to the National Council of Women (NCW) by a woman alleging she was raped by several people at the luxurious Fairmont Hotel in Cairo six years ago.
The victim and a number of witnesses have been questioned by the prosecution.
