‘Virginity tests’ additionally the punishment of Egypt’s females

Editor’s note: Isobel Coleman may be the writer of “Paradise Beneath Her Feet” and a senior other for U.S. international policy during the Council on Foreign Relations in you can look here brand New York.

(CNN) — back March, Amnesty Overseas began reporting that the military that is egyptian exposed 17 ladies protesters at a Tahrir Square demonstration to “virginity tests.” The ladies told Amnesty which they have been handcuffed and beaten, stripped searched and photographed by male soldiers, then restrained by feminine soldiers while a guy in a white coating performed a virginity check.

The army denied the accusations, however in recent times, a senior general has verified to CNN that indeed, the virginity tests happened. The typical justified the abuse by saying these ladies “were in contrast to your mine or daughter. They were girls that has camped down in tents with male protesters.”

The overall went on to insist that the tests had been necessary because “we did not wish (the ladies) to state we’d intimately assaulted or raped them, they were not virgins to start with. so we wanted to show”