Egyptian Activists to Rally Against Torture

March 30, 2011

Armed soldiers look down on protesters surrounding military vehicles in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, February 2, 2011

The anti-torture rally will take place on Tahrir Square where democracy protesters have continued to rally, but not without a price.

On March 9, the army arrested a group of nearly 200 demonstrators. According to human rights groups and some of the 20 women rounded up, they were taken to the nearby Egyptian Museum where they were beaten and subjected to electric shocks. The group was later moved to a military camp. Heba Morayef, of Human Rights Watch, describes what happened next.

"The next morning a military officer came to them and asked them which of them were virgins and which were not," she said. "They then separated into two different groups and then the seven women who identified themselves as unmarried were subjected to forced virginity tests."

Morayef points out previous examples of military abuse, but calls this an extreme case. "What occurred was very, very serious in terms of abuses specifically to the women because forced virginity tests amounts sexual assault. But more broadly also, because of the torture cases of which there are dozens of cases also among the male detainees," she said.

Many here have high hopes for the "New Egypt" but such reports bring back some of the worst memories of the former era - arbitrary arrests, secret detentions, and most hauntingly - torture.