Egyptian anti-feminist Islamic preacher Abdullah Roshdy faces rape accusation by Iraqi woman

A controversial Egyptian Islamic preacher Abdullah Roshy, known for his anti-feminist rhetoric on social media, has been accused by an Iraqi woman of rape, Hawadith Al-Youm local news outlet reported.

The complaint, filed by prominent lawyer Hany Sameh, has been referred this week to state security prosecution for investigation, the report added.

A Kurdish Iraqi woman, Gehan Gaafar, reportedly had a long-distance relationship with Roshy while she was living in Bulgaria. He promised to marry her and she travelled to Egypt accordingly.

One day, Roshdy allegedly fooled her by carrying out the marriage process in the presence of two witnesses over the phone.

When they met, she claimed he had non-consensual sex with her as she questioned whether they were married, then he denied even knowing her, pan-Arab Al-Arabiya news broadcaster reported.

When Gaafar reported the incident to the authorities, presenting screenshots of her chats with Roshdy, he and some of his followers threatened to harm her, she alleged.

The lawyer further accused Roshy of preaching online without a permit, misleading millions of people with his ideas and thoughts, making a fortune in the process, and added that "the right place for preaching is mosques".

It remains unclear when Roshy will be summoned for questioning.

Earlier last year, the ministry of endowments banned Roshdy from giving sermons at mosques after his controversial anti-women comments in one of his videos posted on YouTube during the MeToo movement. 

In the video, Roshdy cynically compared a woman dressed up "inappropriately," as per his standards, to a fancy car with US$1 million inside, left open for thieves to steal.