A radical Salafist preacher who is a proponent of anti-vice police recently shocked Egyptians when he appeared on primetime television to urge women to wear headscarves to avoid being raped.
The preacher's comments have since been refuted by the country's head Islamic legal official, who regarded them as "idiotic."
"I was once asked: If I came to power, would I let Christian women remain unveiled? And I said: If they want to get raped on the streets, then they can," preacher Hisham el-Ashry, who is reportedly regarded as extreme, said on a prime-time program on Nahar TV last week, according to Reuters.
El-Ashry, a Salafist leader and founder of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Authority, also suggested on the television program that Egypt implement "anti-vice police," meaning authorities who tour the streets to ensure civilians are following Islamic law.
The preacher said that the introduction of anti-vice police was "not a bad thing", adding: "In order for Egypt to become fully Islamic, alcohol must be banned and all women must be covered."