Women and Torture

Scenes such as this woman (who was at the time believed to be a murder suspect) being tortured by police helped launch an international outcry against the Egyptian regime. The Egyptian media, which is controlled by the state, failed to air any of the videos of the countless torture victims caught on tape. Many bloggers began to post them on the web via YouTube and were then able to catch the eye of international media channels such as Al Jazeera. While some police officers identified in the more extreme cases have been suspended, the reaction of the government has been anything but swift. In the case of this woman, the Interior Ministry has issued a public call for the names of both the woman and the police officers involved with her torture. However, such abuse by officials is still widely practiced and feared.