The Arab spring promised freedom and justice to the 2011 protestors in Tahrir Square, but a damning new report claims that women are being brutalised by police, military and security forces at an unprecedented level
Four years ago, Cairo was a giant billboard for human rights; the words “freedom”, “justice” and “dignity” were graffitied across the city, with the high hopes of Tahrir Square writ large on city streets. What remains today is a patchwork of paint covering up any hint of political protest.
This isn’t the only whitewash in Egypt now. According to a devastating report published today, state-sanctioned sexual violence against Egypt’s women has increased dramatically since the military returned to power in July 2013. In Exposing State Hypocrisy: Sexual Violence by Security Forces in Egypt, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) lays bare a vast array of sexualised torture by Egyptian police, military and state security forces. Interviews with scores of individual victims and NGOs in Egypt tell of sexual abuse at the hands of officials, ranging from harassment and rape to genital electrocution. And it’s not just women – members of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood and other political dissidents are being targeted, as well as run-of-the-mill arrestees, students and even children in juvenile detention.