Egypt military admit to virginity checks

The Egyptian military has admitted to forcing 17 female protesters to undergo 'virginity checks' -- a claim which denied until now.

It was the month after the fall of the Mubarak regime. Egypt's new military rulers attempted to clear cairo's tahrir square of protesters.

One of them, Salva Husseini, says she was among several women sexually assaulted while in military detention. e 20 year-old hairdresser was submitted to a forced virginity test under threat of electrocution.

"During the test no one was standing, except for a woman and a male doctor. six soldiers were standing behind us and watching the backside of the bed. i think they were there to be witnesses," she told CNN.

And she says that was after soldiers had tied her, forced her to the ground and shocked her with a stun gun, calling her a prostitute.

At first the army denied the allegations made in an amnesty international report.

But last Friday a senior Egyptian general admitted to journalist Shahira Amin the army had indeed conducted so-called virginity tests.

"These checks were carried out, he said, because the military authority didn't want to be accused of sexually assaulting the girls," he said.

The Egyptian general defended the practice, saing these women were not decent girls because they had camped out with male protesters.



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Source: CNN

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