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Egyptian military court acquits army doctor in virginity test case
A military court on Sunday acquitted an army doctor who was charged with conducting a forced virginity test on a female detainee during last year's protests.Samira Ibrahim had said she was forced to undergo a test in March. She was one of seven women who said they had been forced to undergo humiliating tests to find out if they were virgins while detained by the military a year ago. She was given a one-year suspended prison term for insulting authorities, joining an illegal assembly and breaking a curfew. Ahmed Adel, a doctor conscripted to the army, was acquitted of testing Ibrahim. The court said it issued the ruling because of conflicting witness accounts. Outside the court, around 30 protesters shouted, Down down military rule and We demanded dignity and change. Instead they stripped our girls in Tahrir. Controversy over the virginity tests was inflamed after a general was quoted by CNN last year as saying tests were done to prove the women were not virgins when they were detained, so they could not say they were raped in detention. An army official later denied the comments were made. A civilian court issued a ruling in December ordering the army to stop the practice and a military judicial official then said cases of reported forced virginity tests had been transferred to the Supreme Military Court. Posted by: ryuge 2012-03-11 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=340732 |