A senior Egyptian army general has confessed that ‘virginity checks’ were forcibly done on female protesters in Egypt. The social media is already bombarding with tweets and posts calling these checks as form of sexual abuse. In a humorous note, someone mentioned, passing the virginity test in Egypt is as embarrasing as failing it in America.
To me, it is repulsive, illegal and of course, abhorrent. To start with, Egypt on one hand, detailed Suzzaine, the wife of Mubarak only for 15 days. She might even get the immunity from prosecution in return of handing over her two bank accounts and a villa in Cairo. One of her accounts includes 3 million dollars.
But on the other hand, innocent female protestors who revolted are now being subjugated to forced virginity checks. Why the difference in between these women?
‘Not your daughter or mine?’
I am appalled by the statements issued by Shahira Amin, who once used to the deputy editor of Nile TV but boycotted it after she realised she could not be a hypocrite. She states that the Army general simply made a point that ‘these women detained are not your daughter or mine.’
Adding to the abominable remarks, he said that it was necessary to carry out these virginity tests on these women because
a. They protested with men during the 18 day revolution. Drugs and Molotov cocktails were founds in their tents at Tahrir Square.
b. The tests would impose the fact that they have not been sexually abused by Egyptian soldiers.
These reasons have been stated by General Ismail Etman himself, as reported by Huffpost World.
This reminds me of Eman- el -Obeidi from Libya, the young law student who was repeatedly raped and when she did run out to the hotel where foreign journalists stayed, she was ruthlessly carried away in a van and thrown away in some anoymous area.
‘Future for women in dictatorship?’
This makes me lose hope when I see women rebels getting trained to use AK-47 and other weapons in Libya. What justice and security would they get, apart from assault and death?
Its a matter of immense shame that women protesters in Egypt had to go through. They were given electric shocks, stripped naked infront of male soldiers, even photographed, beaten, etc.
Meanwhile, bloggers and activists are livid because of such episodes that continue to haunt the country irrespective of Mubarak stepping down. Hence, its right to state its not the dictator that needs to be punished but the ideology.
Its difficult to fight if you do not have one man at the top of the civilian government, anymore. Because now, there is a sea of ruthless men, with no faces or even consciousness. Great shame, indeed.
shubhdachaudhary 