A Cairo court sentenced a man in absentia to three months in prison on Wednesday on charges of physically attacking a woman after sexually assaulting her.

Lyla El-Gueretly, 30, took the defendant, Ahmed Youssef, to court in April for physically attacking her after she defended herself against his sexual harassment.

"I don't think it's enough. Similar cases ended in the death of a victim and we have a recent case to prove that," said Gueretly, referring to a girl who was murdered last year after spitting at her harasser, who received a life sentence on Sunday.

"I would have felt better if the judge sentenced him to a year (the maximum), instead of three months," she said, expressing concern that the defendant may still appeal and get a milder punishment. 

When she ignored him, Gueretly said, he started mimicking obscene gestures, which only stopped when she said to him, “Shame on your beard.”

“He started shouting and calling me names,” she said, adding that when she decided to stop and confront him for his profanity, he jumped off the bus and attacked her. 

Gueretly, who is a politically active teacher, said that she learned later that people thought he was her husband, judging by how confident he seemed while beating her. 

Only when she started screaming “harasser!” did a crowd gather around them and beat him, before helping her to take him to a police station. 

Gueretly, who sustained minor injuries due to the attack, also managed to convince a few witnesses to accompany her to the prosecutor to testify. 

When the prosecutor saw the victim’s photograph on her identification card and found out she used to wear the headscarf, he made inappropriate comments, suggesting she may have encouraged the harassment, she told AM.

Activists and supporters staged a protest in front of the court earlier on Wednesday to show solidarity with Gueretly.

Sexual harassment is a serious issue facing Egyptian women of all age groups and backgrounds, with only a few victims to date taking legal action.