Mom, I’m Innocent !
With these words, Basant Khaled, the 17-year-old girl, decided to put an end to her suffering and her life after falling into an acute depressive episode when a group of young people blackmailed her with fabricated pictures of her that were made by a photo-editing program. Subsequently, they published these pictures on Social media in order to distort her reputation and defame her in her village (Kafr Yakoub village, Kafr El-Zayat).
The child left in her room a letter to her mother before committing suicide, in which she said: “Mom, please understand me. I am not this girl. I swear to God that these pictures are fabricated. This is not me. Mom, I’m a little girl. I don’t deserve this. I really fell into depression
Mom, I can’t! I’m suffocating, I’m really tired. It’s not me! Have mercy, I’m well-raised”
This incident shook the Egyptian street, and the hashtag #TheRightOfBasantKhaledMustReturn was featured on social media platforms, in defense of the girl’s right, and against the crime of electronic blackmail. This crime has spread extensively during the past months and has become more addressed in the crime report in Egypt, exemplified in the publication of indecent pictures or videos for the purpose of exploiting a girl or obtaining material or sexual gain. Many girls fell victim to this crime, the most famous of whom are: the so-called Pyramid girl and Basant Khaled, who is called by the social media users (the charming smile).
Belady calls on the Egyptian authorities to expedite the enactment and implementation of a law eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls in order to end impunity of aggressors against women, in addition to protecting them from the forms of pressure imposed on them by society.
