By Safaa Abdoun
CAIRO: Egypt’s military court acquitted Sunday army doctor Ahmed Adel, who was charged with conducting forced virginity tests on female protesters detained after a raid on a Tahrir sit-in last year.
Samira Ibrahim, 25, one of the activists who were subjected to the virginity tests and filed the landmark case, said on her Twitter account after the verdict: “No one violated my honor, it was Egypt’s honor that was violated and I will continue until the end to get her rights.”
Gamal Eid, executive director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, was appalled by the verdict and said there is no consideration for the blood of Egyptians.
“We cannot see this verdict without taking into account the acquittals of the killers of the protestors or the stripping and dragging of females or the continuous smearing of activists,” he explained.
Ibrahim was among at least 17 female protesters arrested by military police when a Tahrir sit-in was violently dispersed on March 9, 2011, and says she and six other female protesters were subjected to forced virginity tests in military prison.
All of them were referred to military trials and each received a one-year suspended sentence.
An army general defended the practice at the time saying: “We didn’t want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren’t virgins in the first place.”
A court source told Reuters that Adel, a doctor conscripted to the army, was acquitted of testing Ibrahim. Egypt’s state news agency also carried the report, adding that the court said it issued the ruling because of conflicting witness accounts.
The ruling comes “from what has been proven in documents and based on my conscience,” the judge said according to MENA, adding that he had “not been subjected to any pressures,” AFP reported.
Adel was accused of “public indecency” and “disobeying military orders,” after the initial charge of rape had been dropped.
Huwayda Mostafa Salem, the lawyer for the defendant, told AFP: “The case was not strong in the first place. It was brought about due to media pressure.”
Eid said, “This is not a revolutionary council this is Mubarak’s council,” referring to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
He had excepted SCAF to be smarter and “try to save face with the people” today by issuing a fair verdict. “However,” he said, “they continue to rule with an iron fist.”
Last December, the Administrative Court banned the practice of virginity tests conducted on women inside military prisons in the case filed by Ibrahim.
Her case and other similar ones stoked anger against the generals who took control of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak was driven from office on Feb. 11 by a popular uprising.
“The ruling shows how politicized the military justice system is, and the lack of independence there,” Heba Morayef, researcher at Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) North Africa division, told AFP.
“The implications are far reaching and the hope that there will be any accountability for the military will be receding,” she added.
Activist Salma Hegab, a student at the American University in Cairo who started the initiative “Tweet Share3,” was outside of C28 as the trial was taking place, in solidarity with Ibrahim. She said there were only about 20 people present and none of the popular activists and bloggers.
“Someone came out and said Ahmed Adel was acquitted and people started chanting furiously against the military council and [Field Marshal Hussein] Tantawi. Some started doing graffiti on the walls where it says you can’t come near or take photos,” said Hegab.
“Samira came out of the courtroom crying, got into a car and left quickly,” she added.
Hegab recalls speaking to Ibrahim before the trial, who said she “wasn’t expecting anything as the case is in a military court and it is a case filed against the military.”
“Even though everyone outside felt that the ruling will be in favor of the military, we all had hope that justice will be served,” she added. –Additional reporting by AFP
