This is a move toward democracy?

Egyptian general admits 'virginity checks' conducted on protesters

Cairo (CNN) -- A senior Egyptian general admits that "virginity checks" were performed on women arrested at a demonstration this spring, the first such admission after previous denials by military authorities.

The allegations arose in an Amnesty International report, published weeks after the March 9 protest. It claimed female demonstrators were beaten, given electric shocks, strip-searched, threatened with prostitution charges and forced to submit to virginity checks.

At that time, Maj. Amr Imam said 17 women had been arrested but denied allegations of torture or "virginity tests."

But now a senior general who asked not to be identified said the virginity tests were conducted and defended the practice.

"The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general said. "These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)."

The general said the virginity checks were done so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities.

"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," the general said. "None of them were (virgins)."

This demonstration occurred nearly a month after Egypt's longtime President Hosni Mubarak stepped down amid a wave of popular and mostly peaceful unrest aimed at his ouster and the institution of democratic reforms.

Afterward, Egypt's military -- which had largely stayed on the sidelines of the revolution -- officially took control of the nation's political apparatus as well, until an agreed-upon constitution and elections.

Mubarak denies ordering shootings

The March 9 protest occurred in Tahrir Square, which became famous over 18 historic and sometimes bloody days and nights of protests that led to Mubarak's resignation.

But unlike in those previous demonstrations, the Egyptian military targeted the protesters. Soldiers dragged dozens of demonstrators from the square and through the gates of the landmark Egyptian Museum.

Salwa Hosseini, a 20-year-old hairdresser and one of the women named in the Amnesty report, described to CNN how uniformed soldiers tied her up on the museum's grounds, forced her to the ground and slapped her, then shocked her with a stun gun while calling her a prostitute.

"They wanted to teach us a lesson," Hosseini said soon after the Amnesty report came out. "They wanted to make us feel that we do not have dignity."

The treatment got worse, Hosseini said, when she and the 16 other female prisoners were taken to a military detention center in Heikstep.

There, she said, she and several of other female detainees were subjected to a "virginity test."

"We did not agree for a male doctor to perform the test," she said. But Hosseini said her captors forced her to comply by threatening her with more stun-gun shocks.

"I was going through a nervous breakdown at that moment," she recalled. "There was no one standing during the test, except for a woman and the male doctor. But several soldiers were standing behind us watching the backside of the bed. I think they had them standing there as witnesses."

The senior Egyptian general said the 149 people detained after the March 9 protest were subsequently tried in military courts, and most have been sentenced to a year in prison.

Authorities later revoked those sentences "when we discovered that some of the detainees had university degrees, so we decided to give them a second chance," he said.

The senior general reaffirmed that the military council was determined to make Egypt's democratic transition a success.

"The date for handover to a civil government can't come soon enough for the ruling military council," he said. "The army can't wait to return to its barracks and do what it does best -- protect the nation's borders."





Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/05/30/egypt.virginity.tests/index.html?hpt=T2

The Big Apple

Quick overview - details to follow: we arrived at noon on Saturday, had lunch at The National, located in the Benjamin Hotel across from the Waldorf. We've eaten here before, and were pleased to see that they have renovated but retained the good service and excellent food we remembered. We settled ourselves into our suite and I ran out of juice and fell over into bed.

On Sunday the adorable husband attended a matinee of The Whipping Man. He could not say enough good things about how very excellent it was. I spent the day recuperating.

The children arrived Monday morning and we had great fun visiting and catching up with their lives. Q had a couple of doctor appointments about her ankle, injured in her training for the marathon, and we took the cutie son-in-law with us to Tiffany's to have them attach my new charm that arrived with the roses, new smaller Kindle with 3G, two adorable antique valentines that the adorable husband found in a shop when we were in Bastrop apparently, and some fun pajamas from the Pajama Game. The gents took off for an invigorating walk down 5th Avenue to the restaurant over near NYU while I finished up, returned to the hotel and made reservations.

It warmed up yesterday but has taken a delightful drop into the 30's this morning. We are off to see Wicked tonight.

I hope you had a warm and loving Valentine's Day!

and we're off again!

The house is all tidy (I hate coming home to a dirty house), the laundry is done, I'm still coughing but MUCH less, off to have my hair made straight and shiny this morning, then packing for a VERY early flight to NYC! It appears I won't die - always a good thing aye? Valentine Day gifts all wrapped; I just need to pick up some cards. Q has a long running vendetta against Valentine's Day, so hers are "not-Valentine's Day" gifts.

I had the dirge for my garden yesterday. Houston has been lying to me for the past two years about having any REAL cold weather and finally when they do I'm laid up with the 'death-flu'. Argh! The cold snap killed everything but my asparagus fern and tough little Russian Ivy. Alas. Alas. Big trip to the garden store when we return, BIG trip. These are good problems to have...

I'm so happy to be feeling better! Excellent timing as well I must say. I will keep you up to date as to how NYC fares and our adventures there.

Ciao.

hmmm....

Making a plan is the best way to see the gods laugh!

not dead yet

I continue to breathe, but still with a distinctive rattle! I'm going to try to get out of bed today, for a bit, for the first time since our return from Lost Pines. I still have to fill you in on the rest of that fun trip!

I MUST be well by Saturday - BIG, EXCITING, TRIP TO NYC! I have the Ballet, the theatre, dinner, walking, shopping with the adorable husband, and visiting with Q! YIkes! Even if I have to be propped up with those long sticks they use to hold the olives in Martinis I will be upright - or with a bottle of 18-year-old-MacLeod's in my pocket aye?

And NOW the adorable husband texted this morning, he is "stuffy"; brave love that he is, he is most likely deathly ill!

What a predicament! Could be worse, can always be worse....

ug and ow!

The photographs from the Lost Pines trip are over on my Facebook Page.

I apparently picked up the one and only DEADLY germ at Lost Pines and am very close to death again! Crickey, it's turning into a theme. And I have so much to do... I may not be able to avoid the doctor on this one as the adorable husband looks very panicked.

If I don't die (just kidding), I'll be back soon.

Ciao!

somewhere in Texas...

We are having a long weekend (arrived last evening) at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort in Bastrop, Texas. So far, so lovely. We woke this morning to find these long horned steers outside our windows! We will be staying through Sunday, and I hope to get some horseback riding in while the adorable husband hits golf balls.

My wonderful brother and sister-in-law are here with us until tomorrow, which makes it even better as we love them very much and enjoy their company - always good. They live nearby on their ranch in Evant and have of late had a slew of visitors, so this is a much needed get-away for them.

We are leaving now to go ‘antiquing’ – a passion of theirs, and something we can enjoy until lunch ☺.

Updates to follow…

Ciao