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| The tests are said to have happened after the military cleared protesters from Tahrir Square |
A Cairo
court has ordered forced virginity tests on female detainees in military
prisons to be stopped.
The court
made the decision after a case was brought by protester Samira Ibrahim.
She accused
the Egyptian army of forcing her to undergo a virginity test after she was
arrested during a protest in Tahrir Square in March.
Human
rights organisations say the Egyptian military has used the practice widely as
a punishment.
"The
court orders that the execution of the procedure of virginity tests on girls
inside military prisons be stopped," judge Aly Fekry, head of Cairo
administrative court said, according to Reuters.
The ruling
was greeted by cheers from hundreds of activists inside the courtroom.
Activists
had demanded that the authorities prosecute anyone responsible for subjecting
protesters to such tests.
Earlier
this year, an Egyptian general was quoted as acknowledging that the military
had conducted such tests, saying that they were used so women would not later
claim they had been raped by authorities.
Human
rights groups say such tests are a degrading form of abuse and the general's
justification a legal absurdity.
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