Hope turns to despair as Egypt arrests witnesses to alleged 2014 gang rape
Source: The Guardian
Hope turns to despair as Egypt arrests witnesses to alleged 2014 gang rape
Activists say detentions break promise to protect those standing up to sexual assault
Ruth Michaelson
Mon 7 Sep 2020 05.00 BST
Egyptian security forces have arrested six witnesses, including three women, in an investigation into an alleged gang-rape case previously hailed as a watershed moment for womens rights.
Feminist campaigners and a researcher from the organisation Human Rights Watch said six people had been arrested overnight in their homes by the countrys powerful National Security Agency, including a woman seized from her car in front of her building. Another was arrested at her holiday home after the NSA could not find her at her Cairo address.
Campaigners in contact with the detainees said some of the women had been forced to undergo vaginal examinations and the men anal examinations while in custody.
The group of witnesses were threatened with charges of violating Egyptian family values, damaging Egypts public image and debauchery, a charge frequently used to target members of the LGBTQ community.
Its a terrifying moment for the LGBTQ and the feminist community, said Amr Magdi, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/07/hope-turns-to-despair-as-egypt-arrests-witnesses-to-alleged-2014-gang