Friday, June 3, 2011

Virginity Gate: For the Sake of Egypt , For the sake of the Egyptian army

The virginity gate is echoing worldwide in the media , the scandal is too damn big and yet there is no official reaction yet except a very fishy official statement by major Amr Emam denying the incident in the first place.
By Yara Kassem
The name of Major Amr Emam jumped worldwide as the source that spoke to Shahira Amin despite she made it clear report in her report in the CNN that her source was a general  and she repeated that in her phone call on CNN next day as well.
According to what I understood , according to the available sources I have got Amr Emam is the head of the media department at the morale department headed by Lt. General Ismail Etman. It is worth to mention that Etman has been away from the scene for quite some time if I am not mistaken.
Newspapers in Egypt highlighted the denial of SCAF before the CNN news and interestingly enough Al Ahram newspaper last Wednesday claimed that the alleged incident took place prior the revolution of #Jan25 !!!!!!!!!! They said in the report “The alleged girls were arrested prior January 25th revolution !!” Oddly enough it was  in the same coverage about Reem and Hossam’s chitchat at military prosecution where they claimed that both were released by the military prosecution when they were not accused of any charge !!!
I can’t speak about TV coverage because honestly I have seen TV talk shows that much in those 72 hours but it is enough that Yosri Fouda and his guests Hisham Kassem and Gamal Fahmi hinted about. Yosri Fouda already tried to get Shahira Amin on the phone Wednesday. Novelist Radwa Ashour spoke about the matter as well tonight with Yosri Fouda in his show.
The first real and critical reaction in our press was in El Shorouk newspaper today thanks to famous cartoonist Amr Salim who made a cartoon criticizing the virginity check.
The male nurse tells the lady visiting her gynecologist that if she wants to have a virginity check , she could go to Tahrir square where she will be arrested for protesting and have a virginity test for free at the Egyptian museum.
Yesterday Egyptian activists had protest in front of the Galaa theater where SCAF held a lecture for youth. The protest was in solidarity with the girls who underwent that humiliating experience. Already one of the girls who were subjected to that inhuman check was there and spoke about the horrible she and other 15 girls had been through. Salwa said that she was ready to undergo another virginity test to prove that she is a virgin unlike what that general allegedly claimed that all girls were turned to be not virgins proving that they were not like his girls.
Salwa was the only girl to speak to the media or to be precise the foreign media and the social media as the mainstream media in Egypt whether from TV or press is afraid to speak to her. I believe the pressure from mainstream media can play an important role her , international press and social media are not enough. Hopefully the cartoon of Amr Salim will be the start to open this file as it should in Egyptian press.
Now I am asking the SCAF to take the right step and to save the dignity of the Egyptian army and their dignity before anything , I will not speak about the dignity of Egypt , Egyptians and the Egyptian women because actually we are not the bad guys in the story , we are the victims in front of the world. If SCAF does not care these violations as human rights crimes , at least it should care about its reputation worldwide and the reputation of the army.
We are not insulting the army by bringing up this action , on the contrary we are trying to make sure this minority from military police does not stain our Egypt army , the real insult to the Egyptian army , its heroes and its men actually comes from SCAF from denying and ignoring this dangerous allegation in this way. This is not an attack on the army , on the contrary we are demanding the truth and proper action accordingly. We want a transparent investigation in order to save the trust between the people and the army before the people and SCAF.
I still remember that statement published on the Facebook’s SCAF official page after March 9th stating that there would be an investigation regarding these “allegations” , how is this investigation doing !? Did this investigation reach out to this shameful statements by General X !? Already I assume any fair investigation will include the testimonies of these girls  and as far as I know no one asked for their testimonies officially.
Anyhow I think sooner SCAF will deal with the matter and face it as more and more people in the media  began to speak about it.

14 comments:

  1. طب وعتمان واللي قاله لبثينة كامل؟؟ ويا ترى يا هل ترى المحاسبة تكون للأخ اللي أجرى الكشف ولا للقيادة كلها اللي أكرت وأنكرت وتسترت واعترفت بصورة غير رسمية أكثر من مرة؟؟

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  2. Good publicity for the girls! shame for their families!

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  3. "this minority from military police does not stain our Egypt army..."

    Minority?! I don't think being finger-fucked by the army who to took an oath to protect you constitutes a minority.

    "I am asking the SCAF to take the right step and to save the dignity of the Egyptian army"

    And this my lovelies is one of the numerous reason we were calling for a PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL, the army should never be involved in politics, it jeopardize national security. But whatever, it's too late now.

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  4. You want what they said about it officially? "Would you like to refute the results of tests? " What, again only do this already with the witnesses of the revolutionaries? "If the girls slept on Tahrir is already talking about" education. "

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  5. I do not believe it was a rogue minority of military officers. They have to follow a chain of command, someone in the supreme council had to issue that order, the others probably knew about it though.

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  6. The Army was, is, and will forever be involved in politics in the Middle East and North Africa. For that it gets rewards which it needs to pay back as it did in the past and as it is doing right now by stalling, influencing, strategically positioning etc.., The aim of course is stability. For those of you who missed it, only last week the armed Egypt ("the armed forces") received Billions from the G8 for a job well done and so did Tunisia ("The Army")whose played the same card in the past and did so during the protest, by "holding everything" and by that I mean to allow the protesters to do the work and prepare legitimacy. Now as an incentive to continue to do so, it too is also entitled to Billions, what do you think that is for? charity? no everything comes at a price, they will have to pay back in kind ("stability and compliance") as client states like many others around the world. They did that in the past, and they will continue to do so in the future now that the fade of democracy is the Arab world is in fashion. Had the Egyptian or Tunisian army fired on the the protesters then neither would have qualified for the reward. So what is the catch? Politic my friend. So am I personally against it? hell no, if it helps make peoples lives better and offer equal opportunities to men and women then why not as it did in Germany after the war, Taiwan, Japan etc.. and as long as people benefit with freedom, jobs, medical acre, investment and opportunities for the future, I am all for it. Sure as hell the Arabs are not going to get a better treatment from there own leaders and the likes of Mubarak, Ben Salah, Ben Ali and Gaddafi. but then there is always a price to consider is there not? nothing comes free and you have to make a choice. So here the Army is where it all starts, the illusion of the choice, which must lead to stability and Compliance. Do you have a better quicker idea to make peoples lives better, if you do let us hear it given the serious economic and social problems of the Arab world?

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  7. I hear the do the same thing in Gaza.

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  8. OK, I admit I'm kind of trolling with this one: Give The Middle East To The Jews (YouTube).

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  9. I hope they do back the MB and the Salafists, and I hope Sheik whathisface wins the presidency cause if you're gonna fuck up an entire country you might as well do it right! har har!

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  10. These tests were a product of the military mentality, not "rogue elements" as the military acknowledgement and justification of the incident showed. Do people try to minimise the militray's actions becasue of some lingering respect for the army or becasue they are afraid of being victimiszed by the army? Would there really be a national outcry if the mainstream media reported this abuse, or just mockery of the victims?

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  11. @anonymous Zeinobia will keep on making excuses for the army until one day(hopefully soon) Tantawy decides to give her a virginity test, maybe then she will wakeup from her wet military dream and truly understand what these girls have gone through. But you can never be sure, she might enjoy it after all.

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