'Virginity Checks' Done On Some Female Protesters, Egyptian General Says

NPR 暗黑爆料

'Virginity Checks' Done On Some Female Protesters, Egyptian General Says

By Mark Memmott

Published May 31, 2011 at 10:42 AM MDT

Egyptian Army soldiers forcibly removed protesters from Cairo's Tahrir Square on March 9. Some youths were camping out at the square to press their demand for a complete break with the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak.

After more than a month of denials, an Egyptian Army general that some female protesters were forced after a March 9 confrontation with soldiers to undergo "virginity checks."

And March 9 was the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Amnesty International that:

"After army officers violently cleared [Cairo's Tahrir] square of protesters on 9 March, at least 18 women were held in military detention. Amnesty International has been told by women protesters that they were beaten, given electric shocks, subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers, then forced to submit to 'virginity checks' and threatened with prostitution charges."

Since that report, Egyptian authorities have denied the accusations. But CNN says that this week "a senior general who asked not to be identified said the virginity tests were conducted and defended the practice."

It adds that "the general said the virginity checks were done so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities."

NPR 暗黑爆料

Mark Memmott

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists 鈥� helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

See stories by Mark Memmott

暗黑爆料

'Virginity Checks' Done On Some Female Protesters, Egyptian General Says

Sign up for our weekly newsletter