Samira Ibrahim and Rasha Abdel-Rahmen
SAMIRA AND RASHA’S STORY
On 9 March 2011, Samira Ibrahim Mohamed Mahmoud and Rasha Ali Abdel-Rahman were arrested by military officials in Tahrir Square in central Cairo for their participation in a protest during the Egyptian popular uprising.
The protest concerned demands for a new Constitution, the removal of the Prime Minister as well as highlighting the military’s brutal dispersal of a prior peaceful demonstration on 25 February 2011.
On 11 February 2011, the Supreme Court of the Armed Forces (SCAF) assumed power after the abdication of President Hosni Mubarak.
During their arrest, Samira and Rasha were verbally abused by soldiers, who called them prostitutes and swore at them. Samira was also beaten and given electroshocks with a Taser.
After their arrest, they allege that they were held in a military prison. They claim that they were both, in separate incidents, stripped naked in full view of male military officers, who took pictures of them and laughed about it.
When Samira asked a prison guard to close the door, she alleges that a soldier subjected her to electroshocks in her stomach using an electric baton.
After their clothes were removed, a military doctor subjected them to forced genital examinations, also in view of male military officers, and no explanation was given for the examinations.
Shamira and Rasha were also verbally abused during the incidents and Rasha was threatened with rape.
Both were given one year’s suspended prison sentences by a military judge on trumped-up charges after a short hearing, in which they did not have legal representation.
ACTION FOR JUSTICE
In March 2012, a military court found the doctor accused of performing the forced genital examinations innocent of all charges.
In the wake of this decision, Samira and Rasha brought their case before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), as the main human rights body in Africa. Their cases were filed by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and INTERIGHTS.
REDRESS joined the case in December 2013.
THE OUTCOMES
Case pending
QUICK FACTS
- Case Name: Samira Ibrahim and Rasha Abdel-Rahman v. Egypt
- Court/Body: African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).
- Date Filed: 27 February 2014
- Current Status: case pending
- Legal representation: Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and REDRESS