Egypt Court Outlaws Military's Virginity Tests

A court in Egypt has brought an end to a military tactic used to humiliate women arrested during protests: Virginity tests are no longer allowed, report CNN and al-Jazeera. A 25-year-old woman sued after she got arrested in March and had to undergo the procedure in front of a room full of leering soldiers. An army general defended the tests at the time with this logic: "We didn't want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren't virgins in the first place."

A judge in Cairo sided with the woman, who said she had been "destroyed physically, mentally, and emotionally" by the procedure: "The court orders that the execution of the procedure of virginity tests on girls inside military prisons be stopped." One soldier faces a court-martial next month over the tests, with the military trying to pin the blame on rogue soldiers. The verdict comes as Egyptian women have taken a more active role in protests of late. (More Egypt stories.)