Several female protesters who were detained following the clashes in Abbasseya earlier this month denied being subjected to so-called virginity tests.
In a press conference Saturday evening at the Lawyers Syndicate, the women called on the ruling military council to deal with detainees as “prisoners of war” and not to torture them.
Hagar Abu Khozeim, one of the detainees, said female detainees weren’t subjected to the tests. She referred to the case of Samira Ibrahim, who was subjected to a test when she was detained after a protest in March 2011, saying this has protected others from being subjected to such tests.
Abu Khozeim also said she was arrested inside Nour Mosque in Abbasseya, and that one of the soldiers pointed his weapon toward her, injuring her hand.
Soldiers broke into the mosque, wearing boots, intimidating those inside and firing live ammunition at the women, she added.
Ayah Kamal, who had worked at the makeshift hospital set up at the protest, also called on the military council to deal with detainees at military prisons as prisoners of war, adding that military police didn’t seize any weapons inside the mosque, as claimed.
Abdallah Mohsen, a student who had been detained and released, said military doctors were humiliating detainees and that some patients couldn’t get the medical treatment they needed.
Activists had previously accused military officers of sexual assaulting female protesters during the Abbasseya clashes. The military has dismissed the charges as rumors.
The National Council for Human Rights, which has visited the detainees in Tora Prison, said yesterday that they were subjected to "unspeakable violations" by military police.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
