A year ago, Amnesty International reported that several of the women who were arrested at the protest in Tahrir Square in Egypt were beaten, shocked, and strip-searched while being photographed, threatened with prostitution charges, and subjected to virginity tests.
Today, Democracy Now! reports that an Egyptian military court just acquitted an army doctor for one of these forced virginity tests, and this ruling has human rights organizations (rightfully) up in arms. Heba Moyaref of Human Rights Watch said, “This is a reflection of the fact that the military justice system is not an independent justice system and that the military will protect its own.”
This ruling just precedes the expiration of the U.S. military aid to Egypt. This aid may be renewed, and Amnesty International wants to ensure that it doesn’t fund any military equipment, such as weapons, ammunition, or vehicles. Their website provides a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, encouraging her to certify to Congress that the Egyptian government is “implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law.” You can send Hillary one of these letters, here.
