The fight against sexual harassment in Egypt and Omar Sharif enters the world stage

27:49So how did Rabab, a liberal feminist who supported the 2011 revolution, end up siding with an Islamist candidate? I saw this campaign as a bridge between the socially conservative currents in society and a more progressive outlook. The secular activists hadn't put up a strong candidate. So Rabab decided she had to compromise on her progressive values and embrace a certain amount of conservatism. Standing in the way of Rabab's boss, Fatoua, was the Brotherhood's candidate, Mohamed Morsi. He didn't make much of an impression on her, though. He was very friendly, but he had very limited horizons.

28:32He thought that the patriarchal conservative stance that he and the Muslim Brotherhood have and promote is representative of all Egyptians. And I disagreed on that. He was also very, he tried to be funny. Unfortunately, he wasn't. So I remember in one of the meetings, I walked in and I was just like, where should I sit? And he cracked a joke about a guy going to a cafe. The word cafe in Egypt is also the same word for coffee. It's ahwa. So he said this joke about once upon a time, a guy who entered a cafe, instead of sitting on coffee, he sat on tea. And this is such a not funny joke, even when translated in Arabic.

29:22And I remember thinking, oh my God, this is going to be very hard for him to actually charm a society that is known to be very witty. Rabab may have been a little confused by Morsi's sense of humour, but she was the source of confusion when it came to her family, who couldn't understand why she would want to get an Islamist elected. So siding with Abul Fatouh made me also the Abulidak link within my circles. I was seen as someone who is selling out to the Islamists. And the real Islamists, the Brotherhood, were calling me an infidel who is, you know, so to speak for them, a loose woman, supporting sexual promiscuity, which is in a conservative society something really big.

30:12So I had it coming from both sides. Rabab thought the criticism was worth it, though, as she felt she was giving moderate Egyptians a voice. I felt a lot of love and support from regular people. It was my 15 minutes of fame. I would be stopped on the street and I would be speaking in rallies with hundreds of thousands of people cheering me. In May 2012, on the eve of the first round of voting, Rabab was confident Fatou would win. After the first vote, the two most popular candidates would go through to a final round. Tens of millions of Egyptians vote in the first free presidential elections in the country's history.

30:52There are long queues at polling stations as voters choose a successor for Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted during the Arab Spring last year. But that successor wasn't Fatua, as he finished a distant fourth. Morsi, from the Muslim Brotherhood, and Ahmed Shafiq, a member of Mubarak's old regime, went through to the final round. Rabab was distraught. She went to Fotoa's office the next day. People had cried. People were just completely dazed as if someone was dead. And I remember wearing black, actually, that day. And I felt I was sick to the stomach. For moderate Egyptians like Rabab, the result left them with a choice they didn't want to make, between the hardline Muslim Brotherhood and a return to the hated old regime they'd overthrown only the year before.

31:45After the final votes, there was a week-long gap while the ballots were counted. That allowed rumours to begin to swirl about a military takeover. Morsi, who seemed to be in pole position, feared the military would try to seize control of the country. So, he invited the country's biggest political players, including Rabab, to a meeting where he tried to win their support, and in doing so, stand up to the army. Rabab remembers arriving. I was very hungry, but I, and there was this huge buffet, I remember, but I walked in and I saw him and he cracked a joke with me and I completely lost my appetite.

32:20I was like, this is not going to end well. I left the meeting with my suspicion about this being a PR stunt and this guy not wanting to commit to a broader inclusive political process. Unconvinced by Morsi's words, Rabab didn't vote for either candidate in the end. But more than 25 million people did cast a vote. And on the 24th of June, the result was announced. The winner of the presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt is Dr. Mohamed Mohamed Mursi Ismail. Rubab was boarding a flight when the result was announced. The crew recognised who I was, and this guy comes to me and he looks me in the eye with tears in his eyes, and he just, Dr.

33:11Rabob, we just won. So I had tears in my eyes, you know, talking to this guy later on. Neither him nor I have actually voted for Morsi. But he still framed it as Dr. Rabob, we won. The win here, the victory, was because Shafiq did not end up to be the president. Not that Morsi in particular had won. And at the same time, the people right behind me were like, oh my God, what a catastrophe. And turning back to them, I could feel the hate, like there were spears coming out of their eyes against me and the guy. And it was very symbolic of what Egypt will be going through the next year. Dr. Rabab al-Makti, who spoke to Ben Henderson in 2022, and indeed, as Dr.

34:11al-Makti said, the year after Egypt's first free democratic elections, the country was plunged into further political turmoil. By the middle of 2013, President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood had been overthrown and the military was back in power with General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the head of a new government. And he's still there now. Next, we're going back to the late 1970s, for a moment which marked a shift in the position of women in Egyptian society. That was when the then First Lady, Jehan Sadat, wife of President Anwar Sadat, helped lead a campaign to grant women new rights. Reena Stanton-Sharmer has been looking at her story.

34:52Really, it was the first time to see the First Lady active and working for women, working for children, for disabled, for, you know, many, many organizations I was involved with. I felt that God gave me such a wonderful opportunity to help and serve the people. Did anybody criticize you for being so prominent? Oh, I was severely, severely criticized at the beginning. They have never seen the wife of their president in any Arab country doing what I did. Sometimes I was hurt, but I never stopped. Her resolve was due in part to her English mother. In 1978, Jahan allowed a British television crew into her home.

35:3945 years old and strikingly well-dressed, Mrs Sadat is the mother of four children, three girls, two of them married, and a boy. If her appearance, like her social outlook, seems Western rather than Arab, It's at least partly because she's half English. Her mother came from Sheffield, although she herself was born in Egypt. She taught me how to love my country. She brought me in such an open way, and she gave me principles and confidence and trust me also, and made me very open in my life and very simple, without any conflicts. Especially when we talk about 30 years ago in Egypt, the people were a little bit conservative, much more than now.

36:25And at that time, my mother was not like that, and she gave me this kind of life. And I was brought up so open and very simple with men and women, each like each other, in my opinion. Sitting in her garden on white furniture, surrounded by trees, she's wearing a colourful patterned dress. The divorce here for the Muslims are very easy to divorce their wives. and this is what I don't like at all and I am fighting for this and I believe I will reach it one day and soon. What I am asking for is to be in the court in front of a judge so that he can reconcile between the two husband and wife or sometimes divorce is a must even.

37:12At the moment you don't have to go before a court. No no no no it is for the the husband to divorce whenever he wants without going to the court. And sometimes even if she doesn't know, he can send her the divorce paper. And that's all. I wanted to be something legal for women to be in the court and in front of a judge. What do the men feel about these reforms you're suggesting? Do they like it? Are they happy? The broad minded men, of course, they like it and they are happy and educated people, but they're very fanatic. Of course, they are not pleased with me, I believe, but I'm doing what I feel this is right for not only women, but for the whole family.

37:56Jahan wanted to help mothers who'd found themselves in heartbreaking situations after divorce, as she told the BBC in 2010. I met many divorced women who were really suffering, suffering a lot, not seeing their children. The father escaped, taking the children. The father is not paying the alimony. The father, she doesn't know where he is now. She goes to his work. They don't tell her anything about him. You know, they were lost, lost. There were so many tragedies with women who were divorced. And really, they broke my heart because I wanted to do something for them. But I always be very diplomatic with men.

38:38I never fight them. I always tell them we are partners. We are not competitors. We need you. You are my father, my brother, my husband. We need your help. And it was her partner, the president, that she also needed to convince. In her 1987 autobiography, A Woman of Egypt, she revealed one conversation she'd had with him. Over half our population are women on war. Egypt will not be a democracy until women are as free as men. As a leader of our country, it's your duty to make that happen. A 1986 BBC documentary about the impact of divorce on women around the world included an interview with Fatin Hamama, the actress who starred in the 1975 film I Want a Solution, and also co-wrote the screenplay.

39:38She plays Doria, who struggles to end her marriage to a man she's never loved. Watching the film, she explained what was happening. She's saying, the judge is asking her, why you married him? She said, 20 years ago, I couldn't choose my husband. It was my father who chose the husband for a woman. and from the first year I told my father I cannot go on with him, but this was a scandal for the family. Then I had to go on. I had a child from him. I had to raise the child. I lived with him 20 years, like a very good wife and a good mother. 20 years, I couldn't take my rights. In these 20 years, everything in this society has changed, but not the right for a woman.

40:27The movie had an impact on Jahan, and she achieved her dream, making it easier for women to divorce and for their children to stay with them. This film is credited with having had great influence in the reforms of the divorce law that took place in 1979, reforms that gave more rights to women. However, there was powerful opposition to these changes from fundamentalist Muslims, who saw them as encouraging women to leave their husbands, and in 1985, the new laws were appealed.

41:01Jahan tragically witnessed the assassination of her husband at a military ceremony in Cairo in 1981, after he became the first Arab leader to make peace with Israel. Then as the parade was reaching its climax, with most people's attention distracted by an aerobatic display, two grenades exploded.

41:26And a group of soldiers jumped from a military truck taking part in a parade and ran towards the president firing from Kalashnikov automatic rifles. My bodyguard pushed me because the bullets were coming in the window and really he saved me. And when the bullet stops and the fire stops, I rushed to the window again to see what happened. I haven't seen him. The last thing I saw him when he stood up saluting, he thought that they are coming to salute him, but he knew that they are going to kill because he looked behind to tell his bodyguards to deal with them.

42:09Jahan Sadat died in 2021. Shibli Talhami and Noha Bakra, both university professors, paid tribute to her on BBC Radio.

42:24She was given a state funeral. No other woman in contemporary Egypt had been given a state funeral. I think she leaves a legacy of accomplishment, of a role model for many, many women in Egypt. Lots of women believe they owe her a lot, not only for family loves, but also for inspiring, for becoming a role model, for promoting the idea of the importance of civil society. Memories of Jehan Sadat, the late first lady of Egypt, with Rina Stanton-Shalmer. Finally this week, an Egyptian actor who left a significant legacy in world cinema. It was in 1962 that Omar Sharif made his Hollywood debut in Lawrence of Arabia, a sweeping epic that would become one of the most popular films ever made.

43:18Jill Kersley tells the story of a movie legend. Sharif rode into English-language cinema in one of the most memorable entrances in the history of movies. His 1962 performance in Lawrence of Arabia was nominated for an Oscar. This is my well. That's from CBS. The arrival of a star who was born Michelle Shalhoub, known to his friends as Cairo Fred, and celebrated around the world by his stage name, Omar Sharif. Sharif means noble in Arabic and is a name that is said to have suited him perfectly. I'm using BBC Archive to tell his story. Omar was born in Alexandria, Egypt. His film career began in the 1950s.

44:05While he was a prominent figure in Egyptian cinema, he remained largely unknown beyond his home country. Then... One day, somebody called on the telephone and said, there's an American producer who's here who'd like to see you. And I didn't know where he'd even heard about me. And I went to the Shepherds Hotel in Cairo, and there was Mr. Sam Spiegel. And he said, we'd like you to come and test for a small part in a film. And they sent me out of the desert. I was tested and got the part. It was just miraculous. I mean, you don't get many opportunities. if you're living in Cairo, of getting such a good role in an international film.

44:47The film Lawrence of Arabia depicts the real-life story of British officer T.E. Lawrence, played by Peter O'Toole, as he unites and leads Arab tribes to fight the Ottoman Turks during World War I. Omar remembers his first meeting with the director David Lean being extraordinary. I came to the desert on this little plane and the film unit was in the middle of nowhere really, in the middle of the Jordanian desert, and in the desert where the plane landed, there was one man standing. And I came off this plane, and this man took two steps towards me and shook my hand and looked really through me and said, Omar, I'm very pleased that you're here.

45:31Come with me. And we went straight away into wardrobe, and he sent the wardrobe man out of the room, and he said, Omar will choose his costume. he knows better than you what he should wear. Filming took about a year and a half with around nine months spent in the desert where the cast and crew lived in tents. The desert has looked perfect in every shot so to achieve this a team of about 300 people were tasked with sweeping the sand before each take. There was time for some fun too as Omar recalled on the BBC TV programme Parkinson. While we were out there we got the newspapers from England we were reading that there was a new thing that was very fashionable in all the nightclubs and discotheques, and we read that everybody was doing the twist.

46:20And Peter Atul and I said, God, we're going to go back to London, and it would be ridiculous. We'd go to these discotheques, and we won't know how to dance. So he said, I know what we'll do. We'll import a teacher.

46:35So he arranged it with production. she brought this one record, which was a peppermint something. Peppermint twist. Yes. And we had this every evening after shooting. Get a bottle of whiskey out, have a couple of drinks, put the record on and start going, you know. And Omar stood up and gave the audience a brilliant display of the twist.

47:05But it wasn't the twist that made him an international star. It was that one scene that would be written in the film history books when he made his unforgettable debut as Sheriff Ali, dressed in flowing black robes, riding on a camel. There was no dialogue, no music, just the rhythm of hooves and tension. Here's film director Roger Michell. It starts actually as dust on the horizon and then slowly, slowly the dust accumulates into a figure in a mirage and you're constantly cutting back and forward to Lawrence and is it Zia Moyadin who's playing his guide? it's like a massive western street scene but it's over like about a half a mile instead of a few hundred yards and suddenly zeh moydin can't take the tension any longer and he rushes for in fact lawrence's gun he grabs the gun and he's shot dead omar sharif then arrives and i know peter at all was very good at riding camels but omar sharif gets off his camel like Marlon Brando getting off a Harley Davidson.

48:12I mean, it is such a cool dismount from any kind of vehicle. And this film star is born at that moment. I mean, that's his entry into world cinema and there's never been a better entry. Omar later credited cinematographer Freddie Young for the success of the scene that made him famous. This man ordered the special lens at Panavision. I think it was a 500mm. With that lens, he photographed a mirage, and out of that mirage, a black-dressed person came out, and if he had not done that, I don't know where I would be now. But one person felt that scene could have been even better, director David Lean.

48:53I cut that at double the length at one time. Then I lost my nerve, and I cut it in half, and I made it all much quicker. And when the premiere came, I could have kicked myself because as that figure started wavering in the distance, the audience, you could have a pin drop, you know, and they were gripped. The first premiere was in London, followed by New York. Doors are now open for Lawrence of Arabia premiere. Doors are now open for the premiere of Lawrence of Arabia. But the one Omar was most excited about was in Los Angeles. But Omar says that he and Peter O'Toole, who played Lawrence, nearly didn't make the premiere.

49:34Our dream was to arrive in Hollywood. We'd never been, either of us. And finally we made it there, the night before the opening of Lawrence. And the studio gave us a huge limousine in the evening and said you can go out and have some fun. They went to see a comedian performing on Sunset Strip and were invited to the comedian's house. A few hours later, the police burst in looking for drugs and they were all hauled off to the station. Here's Omar speaking to Michael Parkinson and his audience. So they said, all right, you're inside. And they tried to lock us up. And I'd seen a lot of American films.

50:10I said, I have the right to make a phone call.

50:16I said, yes. I picked up the phone and called the Beverly Hills Hotel where Sam Spiegel, the producer, was there. Anyway, finally, I got him on the phone. He was half asleep. I mean, he was so much half asleep. He said, who is this? I said, it's Omar. He said, Omar who? I said, Stan, how many Omars do you know? Oh, that Omar. I said, we're in jail. He said, who's in jail? I said, Pietro Tula and I. So half an hour later, he walked in with lots of guys with hats and briefcases. He had a chat with a cop. And then they opened the thing and they said, right, you two can come out. The film was a huge success.

50:57Omar went on to take on more roles. Off screen, the media painted him as a glamorous playboy, gambling in the world's most exclusive casinos. But on screen, his international stardom all began with that moment in the desert. Doing Lawrence of Arabia made all the difference in my life. Really, I think I would be somebody else. I'm not sure now, but it seems like that was the turning point of my life. I can't even visualise my life without Lawrence of Arabia having happened. Jill Kersley, remembering Omar Sharif and the truly dramatic impact of Lawrence of Arabia. Omar Sharif won two Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination for that role and a further Golden Globe three years later for his performance in Dr Zhivago.

51:45He died in Cairo at the age of 83 in 2015. Now, from dramatic moments captured on celluloid in the desert to a scene that got hearts racing in a stadium in Los Angeles, this week's sporting witness takes us away from Egypt. At the 1984 Olympics, it was two giants at the women's high jump in contention for the gold medal. One of them was Ulrike Meifert, one of West Germany's most famous athletes. She records the occasion with Alex Strangeways-Booth. It's August 9th, 1984, and the women's high jump final of the Olympic Games has come down to two recent world record holders. Italy's Sara Simeone and West Germany's Ulrika Meifert, who's 28 years old.

52:32The two women have clashed before, always close to each other in the competition. They've both set a world record already today and now the bar is raised once more as they ready themselves for the run-up and the chance to win the gold medal. At the end of the competition, Sarah jumped 2m and I jumped 2m2. She failed at 2m2, but I succeeded with 2m2 after her and her next two jumps, Sarah, failed. To feel it, it was a good jump, but you have to feel it before too, before you start, that it is possible to jump this height. And this must be your strong confidence. For Ulrika Maifart, as she sails over the bar with room to spare, it's a moment which is about to bring a long sporting career full circle.

53:29So I became Olympic champion with a new Olympic record. I'm at peace with myself. the circle has closed. These Olympic Games in 1984 were a moment Ulrike had been working towards since she was 16 and she remembers embracing it fully. We were let in the stadium it was a very impressive and very well attended coliseum. I wore a big cowboy hat I bought a Stetson before so to be protected against the sun and to signify that I feel welcome in California. The US athletes wore a professional makeup, I noticed. Obviously she wants to win, well prepared for the expected TV media. We will see. But all the signs were in Ulrika's favour that day and she was ready to go for the win.

54:26I mean, you just seemed to do it with so much confidence, Ulrika. When you sailed over it, you knew that you'd won gold. I mean, I was smiling to watch your reaction. I felt it before that I could jump it. It must be in your confidence and your preparation of the training. You must bring it into the competition. What was that moment like when you knew you'd won gold? I was happy. After I won, I ran to my coach and hugged him. And after that, there was the victory ceremony. And when the German anthem sounded, I was very relaxed and smiling calmly to the flag ceremony. I didn't like to cry like the others.

55:24I was calm and I thought the circle has closed.

55:32Ulrike speaks of the circle closing because she had won Olympic gold once before in her home country in Munich in 1972. The then teenage Ulrike Meifert became the darling of the Games after coming seemingly from nowhere to win gold, successfully jumping 1m92. In 1972 at the Olympics I wasn't yet a real athlete. I was 16 years old and I didn't train half as much as in my later 20s. My Olympic victory was kind of undeserved for me. It was an unexpected coincidence for all track and field experts and even for me. But suddenly I was the darling of the nation. Yeah, that was the situation. As you might be able to hear, being the darling of the nation was not something Ulrika welcomed.

56:32She thinks her height, over six feet, gave her an innate ability which carried her through the competition. That it was natural talent and not training and discipline which led to her win. When she won that gold, the media latched onto the story, making her into an unwilling celebrity. but her moment in the spotlight didn't last long. It's not yet clear how the guerrillas, who are said to belong to an organisation called Black September, got into the heavily guarded Olympic village. But at about four o 'clock this morning, three men with blackened faces were seen to force their way into the block which houses the Israeli team.

57:09Just days later, 11 Israeli athletes were killed in a terror attack. The world's attention shifted away from what was happening in the stadium. The sense of joy the Games had brought to West Germany had come to a bitter end. After that I was forgotten a little bit, but people still recognised me in the stadium, in the surroundings. This Olympic victory resonated for a long time in me. It was almost traumatic. After the Olympic victory, nothing was normal anymore. The years after I had problems at school and with my high jump ability, because I didn't reach the height of Munich. Almost traumatic.

57:55It's not often that you hear an Olympic victory described that way. She started to struggle both in her personal life and with her athletic career. My performances were very bad. My coach didn't cope well with the Olympic victory in 1972. so I couldn't work together with him any longer. There were no medals for Ulrike at the European Championships in 1974 and 76 and at the Montreal Olympics that year she didn't even qualify for the final round. So she decided to take control. I knew I had to change something and then I decided to change the club and the coach. When I decided to work consciously in contrast to 1972 towards reaching world-class standard in high jump again, I wanted to be a real athlete and work like a real athlete.

58:48Six days a week, two times a day. As the 1984 Olympics approached, her results improved and her profile grew. Yet after an injury to her Achilles tendon, no one was holding out much hope that she would triumph at the Games in Los Angeles. But Ulrika was determined to prove her doubters wrong. So having won the second gold in 1984, how did it feel different to 1972? It was more worthy, 1984 gold, because I worked more hard for it. 1972 was unexpected and I thought I didn't earn it. Ulrika stresses just how hard she worked for her second gold medal. It was one, she says, with graft and effort, 12 years after her first, making her the youngest woman ever to win Olympic gold at high jump And then, the second time around, the oldest who'd ever accomplished that feat at the time.

59:58The way that you tell the story, it's like it feels better if you've trained and done the work. The win feels better. Yes, the win feels better. I earned it. I worked for it. I changed my accident success from 1972 into a hard-earned performance. and I was happy to end my career with this effort. I'm at peace with myself and it was time to step down with dignity.

1:00:34Ulrika Meifert speaking to Alex Strangeways Booth in that CTVC production for the BBC World Service. And that's it for this edition of the History Hour. We'll jump to even greater heights next week as we reflect on moments that changed the world with the people who were there. So until then, this is Max Pearson. From all of us here, thanks for listening. Goodbye. A moment in time captured by what they heard. I heard some people making phone calls. Okay, which one way would you like at Teterboro? What they saw. I put my head down. I saw the movie of my life. It started going through my head. What they smelt.

1:01:08I still remember the smell of the fresh fish. And I completely lost my appetite. moments captured which last for a lifetime scientists have made the atomic bomb that sort of flash set on fire the birds and they all fell down without their feathers on the way was clear for hitler to realize all his demonic plans stories from people with first-hand accounts of events that have shaped our world at the end kissinger called me into his office and he said You did a good job. I left the office with tears in my eyes. She called me and told me, I'm doing Studio 54. She had already become a star in Paris.

1:01:53She came back a superstar. Listen now. Search for Witness History wherever you get your BBC podcasts.