Sinai women stand strong in face of ISIS threats

"Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) affiliate Wilayat Sinai has been attempting to undermine the safety and freedom of women in the peninsula by distributing threatening leaflets and harassing them in the streets.

Despite these attempts, carried out under the pretext of preserving religious traditions, Sinai women remain steadfast in defending their right to live and work as they choose, residents and experts told Al-Mashareq.

This attitude stems from their upbringing, which has taught them to work hard and to support their country, they said.

"From time to time, the group hands leaflets to women as they walk through the streets, threatening them with hudud punishment if they violate its decrees," said al-Arish resident Abeer Ibrahim.

"This will not dissuade Sinai women from going to their places of work and pursuing their livelihoods, no matter how serious ISIS’s threats to their lives are," she told Al-Mashareq.

Women have played a strong role in developing Sinai society, she noted, and have come together to establish associations for the production and marketing of handicrafts and traditional products.

Subjugation and threats

Ibrahim said she used to hear almost daily clashes near her house in al-Zuhour district between Egyptian forces and ISIS elements.

But she said she feels safer now than she did in 2015, when ISIS killed her cousin in the village of Abu Zarai in Sheikh Zuweid, where it executed residents it accused of co-operating with the army. The army has since seized control of the village.

"We hope the army will be able to totally wipe out the group, which is now scattered in very small pockets that pose no notable threat," she said.

Last February, ISIS elements carrying automatic weapons intercepted a school bus that was en route from al-Arish to Rafah.

The militants handed the female teachers on the bus a leaflet demanding that they wear a niqab and travel with a mahram (male guardian) or face hudud punishments, which can include lashings, stoning, amputation and even death.

North Sinai governor Abdel-Fattah Harhour intervened to protect the teachers, allowing the bus to travel on the international highway, which is safer and is dotted with security checkpoints.

In December, gunmen opened fire at a bus carrying male and female teachers in North Sinai, injuring two teachers.

ISIS elements distribute flyers on a sporadic basis in several villages, away from the eyes of security forces, said Ahmed Ban, an expert on extremist groups.

"They videotape themselves [distributing leaflets] then flee and send the videos to ISIS," he told Al-Mashareq. "This takes no more than 10 minutes, after which they scamper to the mountains."

Tribes unite to fight ISIS

ISIS has been increasingly targeting women as Egyptian forces make gains against the group and area tribes come together under the banner of the Sinai Tribal Union to fight it, said military expert Maj. Gen. Mukhtar Qandeel.

ISIS elements in Sinai think they can expand their range of targets to include civilians, he told Al-Mashareq, and that the people will be intimidated by the threat of punishment into obeying its orders.

One of the decrees issued by ISIS prohibits women from working in public schools run by the government, he said.

But despite the threats, Sinai residents are "defiant", he said, noting that women go out to work as before, paying them no mind.

"Sinai women are brought up in a society that enshrines work, love of country and does not give in to threats by terrorist organisations," said military expert Maj. Gen. Ayman Hobbeddin.

"Women raise their children on the credo of struggle, integration and co-existence within the Egyptian state, so that Sinai is not separated from the homeland," he told Al-Mashareq.

"The threats made by terrorist groups in Sinai against women cannot impede their participation in social life and pursuit of their livelihood," he said.