The case filed by Samira Ibrahim against a military doctor was postponed for the third time to next Monday. The lawsuit, which is being tried in military court, concerns allegations he forced her and six other women to undergo virginity tests during their incarceration last March The case was postponed in order to give time for presenting medical tests, taken by the women, as evidence. Ibrahim filed the case months after media reports of women being forced to undergo virginity tests first emerged. The tests occurred while in the custody of the military after they were arrested for participating in a March sit-in. The women recounted being forced to undergo the tests in an open space with soldiers watching. The news of the virginity tests created international outrage and Ibrahim has become an icon of resistance. She is the only woman to press charges of those subjected to the virginity tests. An administrative court issued a ruling in December criminalizing the practice of virginity tests in military prisons. The officer who is accused of conducting the tests faces charges of indecent behavior. Ibrahim was frustrated by repeated postponement of her case, dismissing it as a “play” on her Twitter account, and calling the military judiciary “failing and corrupt." Ibrahim herself received a suspended one-year sentence by a military tribunal before she was released in March. She has filed another case demanding a retrial in a civilian court.
