.jpg?20260501')
An Egyptian hotel manager has been sentenced to prison for refusing to accommodate a solo female traveller. An appeals court in Port Said overturned an earlier acquittal, marking one of the first criminal convictions in Egypt for gender-based discrimination in tourist accommodation.
The manager, who was sentenced in his absence to one year in prison with labour and a fine of Egyptian pounds 50,000 (BD356), denied a room to a female journalist because she was travelling alone.
The incident occurred in January, prompting the journalist to file a police report under Article 161 of Egypt's penal code, which criminalises sex-based discrimination.
The hotel argued that the refusal was an internal policy based on "security concerns."
However, rights groups noted that the case highlights a recurring pattern of provincial hotels turning away unaccompanied women under vague administrative justifications, breaching constitutional prohibitions on gender bias.
&uuid=(email))