Egypt MP stirs controversy with call for virginity tests
Two members of parliament have caused an uproar for suggesting virginity tests be given to female students.
Egyptian member of parliament Elhami Agina made a proposal late last month to subject university female students to periodical virginity tests as a condition to be admitted to college or move from one academic year to the next. His proposal was met with wide rejection despite his saying that this would stop the spread of a practice known as customary marriage among high school and university students in Egypt.
Customary marriage — also known as nikah 'urfi — is a traditional form of marriage within Sunni Islam that does not require a contract to be officially registered with state authorities. Such marriages have been subject to criticism in the past for being seen as a means for couples to have sex within a legal framework while not going through the traditional steps of marriage.
Two days after he made his controversial statements, Agina backed down on his proposal and apologized during a phone call with an Egyptian satellite TV channel. However, member of parliament Yusry al-Maghazi told a newspaper that he would submit a new bill to parliament requiring the state to impose a virginity test on university and technical secondary school female students.
Agina’s proposal and Maghazi’s support prompted several government bodies and human rights organizations to submit notices calling on Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Sadeq to lift Agina’s immunity from prosecution and refer him to criminal court. The notices indicated that the lawmaker's remarks calling for the imposition of virginity tests would pave the way for an indecent assault on women and fall under the crime of defamation under the Criminal Code.
