(AFP Photo)
By: AbdelHalim H. AbdAllah
Haitham Abu Khalil General Manager of “Victims Centre for Human Rights” accused the Ministry of Interior of intentionally targeting female activists [demonstrating] against the coup.
Abu Khalil claimed that the police chased the young women and left the men who were demonstrating with them: “They violently arrested them [and] sent them to the Alexandria Security Directorate where they spent 48 hours with convicts.” The seven underage girls were sent to Moharram Bey Correctional Facility while the rest were deported to Al-Abaadeya Prison in Damanhour.
Abu Khalil accused the Ministry of Interior of forcing the arrested women to undertake pregnancy tests “to humiliate and intimidate any opposition”.
On the other hand, Ministry of Interior Spokesman Hany Abdel Latif stated: “These are all false allegations, there is no such thing as forced pregnancy tests”. He added: “ The police force performs its duty according to the law, and anyone who has any proof of otherwise should present it to the prosecutor general”.
On Thursday 31 October, a group of 22 women were arrested by security forces in Alexandria for ‘blocking the road’. The activists belong to a group called the “7 am Movement”, which organises peaceful protests before the beginning of the school day against the 3 July military-backed ousting of former president Morsi . The group, which started in Alexandria, is spreading to Cairo and Giza and has launched a campaign with the name “Our girls are a red line” to call for the release of the 22 detainees.
