Under arrest,Egyptian women protesters forced to take ‘virginity tests’

Women arrested by Egyptian military during protests at Tahrir Square were subjected to humiliation,claims Amnesty International.

Women arrested by Egyptian military personnel during protests at Cairo’s Tahrir Square were subjected to virginity tests” and other forms of humiliation,claims an Amnesty International report.

At least 18 women were arrested on March 9 when army officers forcibly cleared Tahrir Square in Cairo,centre of the protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February.

The Amnesty report revealed that the women protesters were beaten,given electric shocks,subjected to strip searches and photographed by male soldiers.

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Women were then given ”virginity checks” and threatened with prostitution charges if the medics ruled they had had sex,said the report.

Amnesty quoted 20-year-old Salwa Hosseini,who was arrested and forced with other women to remove her clothes and was searched by a female prison guard. She said women were subjected to virginity tests by a man in a white coat and were threatened with prostitution charges if they were found not to be virgins,Amnesty said.

Amnesty has called on the Egyptian authorities to investigate this alleged abuse,which it described as ”utterly unacceptable.”

”The purpose is to degrade women because they are women,All women of the medical profession must refuse to take part in such so-called tests, The Daily Mail quoted an Amnesty spokesman,as saying.

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The spokesman said one woman who had told the military she was a virgin and then failed the ”test” was beaten and given electric shocks.

”Women and girls must be able to express their views on the future of Egypt and protest against the government without being detained,tortured,or subjected to profoundly degrading and discriminatory treatment,” he added.

He further said that women participated to bring change in the country and should not be punished for their activism. The Egyptian authorities must halt the shocking and degrading treatment of women protesters.

He said that military officials responsible for such inhuman act must be brought to justice and the courageous women who denounced such abuses should be protected from reprisals.

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Egypt’s army has been criticised by activists for detaining Egyptians involved in the mass protests that toppled Mubarak and for abusing them in custody. The military has repeatedly denied torturing civilians.

The head of the military police told an Egyptian newspaper last week that video footage showing torture was fabricated by people who wanted to create divisions between the armed forces and the public.