Female protesters in Egypt tortured, subjected to ‘virginity test’: Amnesty
The international human rights group Amnesty International claimed Wednesday that a number of female protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square were rounded up by the Egyptian military and tortured recently. Some women even said they were subjected to a "virginity test" while soldiers looked on and took pictures. Amnesty said at least 18 different women were subjected to this treatment, first at a military prison, then inside the Cairo Museum. The women claimed they were beaten and tortured with electric shocks, and one woman who allegedly "failed" her virginity test was reportedly singled out for the worst abuse.
"20-year-old Salwa Hosseini told Amnesty International that after she was arrested and taken to a military prison in Heikstep, she was made, with the other women, to take off all her clothes to be searched by a female prison guard, in a room with two open doors and a window," the group explained. "During the strip search, Salwa Hosseini said male soldiers were looking into the room and taking pictures of the naked women."
All of them were taken on March 9, as the military cleared Tahrir Square of demonstrators.
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