Video of groom beating his bride on wedding day sparks outrage in Egypt

A video showing a groom beating his bride in her wedding dress, minutes after she reportedly left the hairdresser’s salon to make her way to the wedding hall on Sultan Hussein Street in Ismailia governorate, has sparked outrage in Egypt.

The recording, which has gone viral under the Arabic hashtag #IsmailiaBride, showed the groom punching the bride and pulling her hair as she was getting into a car.

The video appeared to have been recorded by an onlooker from a balcony.

Despite the shocking incident, the couple completed the wedding ceremony and later posted a video to show they were reconciled, with the groom embracing his new bride.

The incident sparked uproar online, with many calling for stricter laws on domestic violence.

“[Women] should be taught in schools and universities to defend themselves [against violence]”, one Twitter user said.

“It is shameful that there is no law that criminalises beating your wife,” another user added.

عريس بيضرب عروسته يوم العرس وبعدا بيكملوا العرس عادي!!
قبل ما تجوزوا اولادكن ربوهم وعلموهم وخلوهم أصحاب خُلق كريم ومحترمين
شو ما كان الضرب والتعنيف مو لازم نشوفوا شي طبيعي #عروسة_الاسماعيلية pic.twitter.com/Y6yy95WVFd

— Mariam (@meri_1l_) February 18, 2022

The head of Egypt’s National Council for Women, Maya Morsy, weighed in on the controversy in a Facebook post.

“[…] Men do not hit women. [How can you] hit your wife while she’s in her wedding dress? [How can you] hit her on the street, in front of people?” Morsy said. “We won’t be surprised if [he] kills or beats [her] in front of their children.”

Morsy added: “The absence of education, respect towards women is the beginning of the collapse of the family unit.”

While Egyptian law states that women should be protected against all forms of violence, domestic violence is widely spread in Egypt.

According to the UNDP Gender and Justice report on Egypt, there is no law that explicitly refers to domestic violence.

"The lives of many generations of Egyptian women and girls have been profoundly harmed by such practices, which should be clearly made illegal, with the laws against them properly upheld," the OHCHR has stressed.