We Record: 2,761 women tortured and degraded since Egypt coup

An international rights platform has documented thousands of violations against women in Egypt since 3 July 2013, a turning point in the regime’s treatment of females, which was considered a red line by previous governments.

We Record has documented enforced disappearances, physical and psychological torture, threats of rape and exposure to sexual harassment by members of the national security and police personnel, over the six years since the coup.

The regime has carried out 312 extrajudicial killings against women, according to their research, forcibly disappeared 396 women and 16 girls and referred 115 to terrorism courts.

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights has said that as many as 3,185 civilians have been extrajudicially killed by Egyptian security forces since 3 July 2013.

Rights groups have accused the Egyptian authorities of carrying out punitive measures against the opposition to silence dissenting voices.

For crimes not to be time-barred from prosecution, and for history not to be fabricated, document in order to be a witness to the truth.

Stay tuned and wait for us at 8:00 PM (Cairo).#WeRecord pic.twitter.com/nTr6Kq6TIg

— We Record (@WeRecordEN) August 1, 2019

They are also putting pressure on relatives of opposing figures, most blatantly against the wife and daughters of Khairat Al-Shater, a top figure within the Muslim Brotherhood who has been detained for six years and who was tried alongside former President Mohamed Morsi in the Hamas espionage case.

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The case of Ola Al-Qaradawi has received significant attention since she was sent back to solitary confinement in July after a court ordered she be released, in what appears to be revenge against the Islamic scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, her father, who was once outspoken against the regime.

Several women have been arrested as part of the Hope Alliance case, including Mawadda Osama Al-Aqbawi, a student who was detained by security forces after they could not find her father, the opposition politician Osama Al-Aqbawi.

Following their release or whilst on parole, 2,629 women have been arbitrarily arrested and detained; 127 women are still in prison, according to the report.

Amnesty International has condemned the Egyptian “revolving door” practice through which detainees are re-imprisoned after judges order their release.

According to We Record, 2,761 women have been tortured and degraded in various detention centres, including Hend Mohamed Talaat Khalil, 43, who has been electrocuted and threatened with rape.

Female students and staff members have been dismissed from universities and women have had their assets seized and banned from travelling outside the country.

This abuse has left “psychological and physical marks that would never disappear or be forgotten throughout their lives,” says We Record, which is calling on the Egyptian authorities to stop all forms of violation and demanding an open, transparent investigation into these violations.

READ: 83 women held in Egypt prisons, says human rights activist