Amnesty International says Egypt must investigate forced 'virginity tests'

[News_Editor]

Amnesty International says Egypt must investigate forced 'virginity tests'

2011-06-02 01:30:59 GMT+7 (ICT)

LONDON (BNO NEWS) -- Amnesty International on Tuesday called on the Egyptian authorities to bring to justice those responsible for ordering or conducting forced 'virginity tests.'

The London-based rights group released a statement after a senior Egyptian general told CNN that women detained on 9 March at Cairo's Tahrir Square had been forced to undergo 'virginity tests.' The general, speaking on condition of anonymity, justified the abuse by saying that the women "were not like your daughter or mine. These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters."



"This admission is an utterly perverse justification of a degrading form of abuse," Amnesty International said in a statement. "The women were subjected to nothing less than torture."

The general also told CNN that the reason for the 'tests' was "[w]e didn't want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren't virgins in the first place."

"The Egyptian authorities must condemn these discriminatory, abusive and insulting attitudes which have been used to justify torture of women protesters, and which are clearly present at the highest levels," the statement said.



In March, Amnesty International also called on the Egyptian authorities to investigate allegations of torture, including forced virginity tests on women protesters. At least 18 women were held in military detention after army officers violently cleared the square of protesters.

The women told the London-based group that they were beaten, given electric shocks, subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers, then forced to submit to 'virginity checks' and threatened with prostitution charges.



The women were brought before a military court on 11 March and released on 13 March. Several received one-year suspended sentences for charges including disorderly conduct, destroying property, obstructing traffic and possession of weapons.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-06-02

[maidu]

just as bizarre, the Egyptian authorities don't even know they're being <deleted> when ordering/carrying out such intrusive & demeaning actions. They're so immersed in their women-degrading culture that they think it's just another dum-de-dum edict to declare - another day's work.

[Steely Dan]

just as bizarre, the Egyptian authorities don't even know they're being <deleted> when ordering/carrying out such intrusive & demeaning actions. They're so immersed in their women-degrading culture that they think it's just another dum-de-dum edict to declare - another day's work.

The trouble is this behavior came from despots trying to retain control, should the Muslim brotherhood get in it will be a larger human rights disaster for any women, homosexuals or infidels. As a footnote I would observe that many women in Iran campaigned for the overthrow of the Shah of Iran - some may mislabel the ousting of a despot as democracy, but it's merely out of the frying pan and into the fire.