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.

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