Blog #10: Egyptians Push To End Military's Trials Of Civilians

Ibrahim, a 25-year-old from southern Egypt, was arrested by the military during a protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square in March of last year, a month after Mubarak was overthrown. While in custody, Ibrahim said, she and six other young women were subjected to a "virginity check" — a forced penetration to check for hymen blood. Amnesty International has called this procedure a form of torture. After her release, Ibrahim filed a suit against the military. Earlier this month, a military trial ruled against Ibrahim; but the verdict only seemed to strengthen the resolve of Egyptian activists who want to put an end to military trials of civilians. This past December, Ibrahim won a case in a separate civil court case to make virginity checks illegal. However, the military court found the doctor accused of carrying out the check not guilty. The ruling was in effect a denial that the incident happened at all. Mohamed Kadry Said, a retired major general in the army who is now a senior analyst at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, says that this “virgin testing” procedure took place regularly and he called it a "very bad process." Military trials have become the focus of popular anger and debate in the media. Mona Seif, the coordinator for the campaign, says increasing public pressure has been a major factor in changing the way the ruling generals speak about military trials. Morayef says the code of military justice must be followed, but that is unlikely in the short term, she says, because the code guarantees the military's own immunity.

I find this act to be completely humiliating and dehumanizing for women. The powerlessness that these seven women must have felt is horrible to even think about; however, this is not the worst or first form of inequality against women. I think this was done to these women, because they decided to have a voice and take a stand for something they believed in. I think that in many countries women come as a threat to men. For example, globally, women are not as well educated as men; I think this is because men don’t want women to have knowledge. Knowledge is a threat. Though I find the verdict of the military trial to be unfair, I also think it was obvious that she wasn’t going to when. Egypt has a military based government; therefore anyone going against that military is more than likely not going to win. Since increasing public pressure has been a major factor in changing the way the ruling generals speak about military trials, I feel that perhaps a more democratic approach is on its way and I would encourage those harmed by the military to always speak out. I only worry that this speaking out will cause more harm than good when it comes to a military based government.

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/29/149547892/egyptian-activists-push-to-end-military-trials?sc=17&f=