Egypt performs 'virginity tests' on protesters

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_egypt

By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press – 1 hr 14 mins ago

CAIRO – Activists and bloggers are pressing Egypt's military rulers to investigate accusations of serious abuses against protesters, including claims that soldiers subjected female detainees to so-called "virginity tests."

Bloggers say they will hold a day of online protest Wednesday to voice their outrage, adding to criticism of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control of the country from ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February.

In the face of the criticism, four journalists along with a prominent blogger were summoned for questioning by the military prosecutor, according to a rights group. They were released without charges.

Hossam al-Hamalawy, the blogger, tweeted: "The visit to the military prosecutor became a chat, where they wanted clarifications for my accusations."

The virginity test allegations first surfaced after a March 9 rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square that turned violent when men in plainclothes attacked protesters and the army intervened forcefully to clear the square.

One woman who was arrested spoke out about her treatment, and Amnesty International further documented the abuse allegations in a report that found 18 female detainees were threatened with prostitution charges and forced to undergo virginity tests.

They were also beaten up and given electric shocks, the report said.

Egypt's military rulers have come under heavy criticism from the youth protest movement, which is upset at the pace of reforms that they hope will lead Egypt to democracy.

Since Mubarak's fall on Feb. 11, the military has led crackdowns on peaceful protests, and critics accuse it of failing to restore security in the streets or launch serious national dialogue on a clear path forward for Egypt.

The military council denied soldiers attacked protesters at the March 9 rally. But one general used a news conference to make negative remarks about women who mingle with men during the sit-ins and suggested lewd acts were taking place in protest camps.

"There were girls with young men in one tent. Is this rational? There were drugs; pay attention!" Gen. Ismail Etman, the council spokesman, said at the end of March.

He confirmed then that the military police arrested 17 female protesters among 170 others at the March 9 rally. He said the women were among a group of protesters given one-year suspended prison sentences.

"We secure the people. We don't use the violence," he said.

At the peak of the protests, the now-ousted regime sought to characterize the protesters as a group of rambunctious youth more intent on spreading chaos than genuine reform. Even after Mubarak's ouster, that notion carries some resonance in Egypt's conservative society, where the idea that unmarried women would spend the night with strangers — albeit in public — carried the tacit implication that the women were loose.

One of the women arrested, Salwa al-Husseini, gave a detailed account at a news conference in March of her treatment and said she was made to undergo a virginity test.

She said she was slapped in the face and subjected to electric shocks in her legs before being taken to a military prison.

"When we went to the military prison, me and the girls, we were placed in a room with two doors and a window. The two doors were wide open," she said. "The girl takes off all her clothes to be searched while there were cameras outside filming to fabricate prostitution charges against us later on," she added.

"The girl who says she is single, she undergoes a test by someone; we don't know if he is a soldier or some kid on their behalf," she said.

Amnesty said in its report that one of the women told her jailers she was a virgin but was beaten and given electric shocks when the test supposedly proved otherwise.

"Forcing women to have 'virginity tests' is utterly unacceptable," the Amnesty report said. "Its purpose is to degrade women because they are women."

The military council has promised to return the country to civilian rule after elections later this year, but some Egyptians fear the council is adopting the same autocratic ways that characterized Mubarak's rule. They point to what they say are attempts by the council to make any criticism of the military taboo.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, in a statement Tuesday, said that the questioning of journalists or bloggers was an attempt to silence critics and create "an atmosphere of fear."

It warned: "The military council is committing a grave mistake if it continues to shut the mouths of those criticizing it. The council is not made up of angels."

The group also referred to virginity tests, saying that the military council is aware that "those belonging to it have practiced torture against the youth of the revolution and has subjected women to virginity tests."

[Vi-Jay 218]

A role model for civilization.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

A role model for civilization.

This is a fact... All those revolutions that are happening atm in the MENA country's...well it's going to be a bigger fck fest now than it ever was after it's all said and done. You either have a firm dictator keeping those peeps in check or you have total mayhem. It's just the way it is and I don't ever seeing it changing. If anyone here thinks this post is biased, then take a trip to the Middle East for a few months and come back and post about it. Facts are facts whether they are politically correct or not.

[^_^ 5,021]

This is what totalitarian types do to their opposition. They undermine their credibility (girls from good families in that part of the world remain virgins till they're married, or so goes the belief) and intimidate them (you would think twice about protesting too, if you thought doing so would mean letting some military jerkoff prod your vajayjay thereby violating your sexual purity in a culture that values said purity).

I guess the revolution isn't over yet.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

This is what totalitarian types do to their opposition. They undermine their credibility (girls from good families in that part of the world remain virgins till they're married, or so goes the belief) and intimidate them (you would think twice about protesting too, if you thought doing so would mean letting some military jerkoff prod your vajayjay thereby violating your sexual purity in a culture that values said purity).

I guess the revolution isn't over yet.

Please don't be a robot. Do you actually think things are going to get better after these revolutions are all said and done? Not hardly. The Islam-o-nuts are going to take over and it's going to be worse than ever. Better a ruthless dictator keeping those peeps in check then the other option.

[^_^ 5,021]

Please don't be a robot. Do you actually think things are going to get better after these revolutions are all said and done? Not hardly. The Islam-o-nuts are going to take over and it's going to be worse than ever. Better a ruthless dictator keeping those peeps in check then the other option.

I disagree, but mostly because I want to. I understand your skepticism though.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I disagree, but mostly because I want to. I understand your skepticism though.

Start naming democratic country's in the MENA region that have a decent human rights record.

This should be entertaining.

[^_^ 5,021]

Start naming democratic country's in the MENA region that have a decent human rights record.

This should be entertaining.

I don't think you understood what I said there.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I don't think you understood what I said there.

That post of mine was mostly for the nutters on this forum who can't wait for a Palestinian state. I'm counting down the days they start lobbing rockets into Israel and the Jews finally get the sh*ts of it and wipe them clean off the map just to be done with all the bs.

Who in their right mind starts wars, gets their ####### kicked after starting wars and then cry's about it afterwards ? The Arabs..that's who.

[^_^ 5,021]

Who in their right mind starts wars, gets their ####### kicked after starting wars and then cry's about it afterwards ? The Arabs..that's who.

There were a lot of Arab foreign students when I went to college and almost all of them believed the Arabs won all those wars.

The power of propaganda.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Start naming democratic country's in the MENA region that have a decent human rights record.

This should be entertaining.

Change is a slow process and in this case an unfortunately violent one. You can hardly argue that propping up violent dictatorships is a solution to anything, except more of the same.

Hopefully the egyptian people will find their way to a better place in time, i don't think anyone seriously thinks it could happen overnight.

[FaithfulandTrue 6]

virginity tests?!?!?!? and these are men doing the tests right, hmmm.. ok

[thelastpetitioner 218]

virginity tests?!?!?!? and these are men doing the tests right, hmmm.. ok

there is no way a man can say if a woman is a virgin or not just by sticking their head in women's #######.

i think how they do it is they arrest the protesters,take them down to their jails or whatever it is those pervs have and have doctors check them out,based on the logic that doctors are mahram to everyone

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

there is no way a man can say if a woman is a virgin or not just by sticking their head in women's #######.

i think how they do it is they arrest the protesters,take them down to their jails or whatever it is those pervs have and have doctors check them out,based on the logic that doctors are mahram to everyone

Its horrible! The men and any woman on standby that participated in doing virginity checks on those poor women should be ashamed of themselves and it should be an outrage of the Egyptian people and Human rights advocates. Its only the pride and egos of men that are concerned for themselves how THEY will be looked at if the women are virgins are not. Tortured and shamed is what they did to the women and the Sr general stands by all that? The women of Egypt need to protest!

Edited May 31, 2011 by ~PalmTreeGurl~

[Zero Sum 305]

Change is a slow process and in this case an unfortunately violent one. You can hardly argue that propping up violent dictatorships is a solution to anything, except more of the same.

Hopefully the egyptian people will find their way to a better place in time, i don't think anyone seriously thinks it could happen overnight.

And hopefully others will realize that these horrible acts were perhaps not a systematic action that could be idiotically generalized as something done by 'Egypt.'