Egyptian general admits to performing 'virginity checks' on protesting women

This is the first admission coming from Egyptian generals to any accusations, all others have denied performing 'virginity checks' after being accused. An Amnesty International report, published a few weeks after protests earlier in spring, claimed that women protestors were arrested, beaten, given electric shocks, strip-searched, threatened with prostitution charges, and forced to allow virginity checks. The article claims that these 'checks' were done to keep their good name; they were done so that women couldn't later claim that (while camping) they had been raped by the Egyptian authorities. A general -who remained anonymous- claims that these checks were performed so they could prove these women were not virgins to begin with, and "none of them were".

I found this article to be so harmful and abrasive to these women. This is what we try to figure out when we deal with human rights; these women were beaten until they submitted to these tests that only harmed these women. One of the captured and tested women came forward and stated that, "they wanted to teach us a lesson... They wanted us to feel that we have no dignity." It's pathetic what happens to people when they feel they have no rights. They're taken advantage of daily. For a country that is pushing and fighting for democracy, they are still behind years in practice of human rights.


Jen Crawford