Evading Criminal Repercussions With Bribes

Al-Ahram, Egypt, May 21

Recently, we’ve been hearing of several offenses and crimes committed by members of some of Egypt’s richest families. Notably, the victims of these actions often come from the weakest and poorest parts of society. Then, after the crime garners public attention and is brought to the authorities, the perpetrators evade punishment by buying their way out of the situation. In a recent incident that took place in Cairo, a notable businessman repeatedly hit a security guard in the face. The guard chose not to press charges out of fear of losing his job. Despite the fact that authorities decided to launch an investigation into the attack, the guard decided to drop the case. It is believed that the attacker paid the victim a nice sum of money in return for his silence. In another incident, a 14-year-old child, the son of a former parliamentarian, along with two other people, assaulted a cleaning worker. The men severely beat the worker, who eventually succumbed to his wounds and died. But they somehow bribed the victim’s family and were thus never brought to justice. It’s important to know that in 2006, during the Mubarak era, several amendments were made to Egyptian law, allowing crimes to be settled outside of court through reconciliation. This includes manslaughter cases in which the victim’s family accept an apology from the perpetrator and drop their charges. For example, a recent car crash in Sheikh Zayed City left four people dead, including three children, after the son of a wealthy man crashed his car into a crowd. A police investigation showed that the man was driving well beyond the speed limit under the influence of drugs and alcohol. However, the victims’ families couldn’t resist the temptation of cash compensation – which totaled over 4 million pounds each – so they opted for reconciliation and dropped their charges. The drunk driver evaded the possibility of up to seven years in prison. This is what our legal system currently allows rich offenders to do. Wouldn’t it be better to amend our laws in ways that actually benefit the ordinary citizen such as addressing legal loopholes, defending basic rights, or ensuring equality for all? –Ahmed Abd Al-Tawab (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)