Since the 3 July 2013 military coup, Al-Azhar University, one of the main centres of Sunni Muslim learning, has been the scene of repeated clashes between anti-coup students and police. On 28 December 2013, a large group of female students were demonstrating against the current government's policies on campus when the police intervened violently. The student protestors were violently assaulted and beaten. Twelve of them were arrested and taken to Nasser City police station. Two days later, on 30 December 2013, in another police assault that was conducted in similar conditions, eight other victims were arrested and violently beaten and humiliated. All of them were assaulted, tortured, sexually harassed and had their headscarves removed by police officers following their arrest.

They were charged with "preventing students from attending exams", "public disturbance" and "attackingpolice officers with Molotov cocktails".

The victims were taken to Nasser police station where they were detained without any contact with their family or their lawyer. They were also exposed to ill-treatment and humiliation. A few days later, the women were transferred to Al-Salam Security Centre.

On 6 January 2014, the 22 women were transferred to Al-Qanater prison where they were mistreated and exposed to humiliation and intimidation. All of them were forced to undergo virginity tests. Such tests clearly aimed to intimidate the victims and dissuade them from demonstrating and expressing their political opinions again.

While in Al-Qanater prison, all the women were detained in a collective cell with common law detainees. They were beaten and harassed by other detainees, who acted on the incitement of prison officers.

The treatment described above inflicted to the victims clearly constitute a violation of the Convention against Torture and article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and meets the definition of torture as defined in article 1 of the Convention against torture.

The virginity tests were inflicted by a doctor acting in an official capacity with the aim of intimidating the victims and punishing them for having expressed their opinions and having demonstrated against the Egyptian authorities. In 2000, the interim report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture explicitly categorised sexual assaults and virginity test as a gender-specific form of torture .

"We are very concerned about the ongoing use of virginity tests and sexual harassment against female detainees aimed at punishing them simply for having expressed their political opinion," said Alkarama's Legal Director Rachid Mesli.

In December 2011, similar cases of torture and sexual harassment were perpetrated by military forces. The case of Ms Samira Ibrahim is one of the most well known cases.

It is all the more alarming that Field Marshal Sisi publicly defended this practice in 2012, arguing that virginity tests are carried out to "protect the girls from rape, and the soldiers and officers from accusation of rape" . Despite promises to abolish those practices, virginity tests against female detainees emerged again towards the end of 2013 and have become a widespread practice in Egyptian jails and detention centres.

Today, Alkarama requested the urgent intervention of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture with the Egyptian authorities to remind them of their obligations to take appropriate measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under their jurisdiction and that no exceptional circumstances may be invoked as a justification of torture.

*Given the sensitive nature of the violations committed in this case, we have decided to avoid publishing the names of these women publicly.