In a report issued on Friday, Amnesty International’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director, spoke about the “unacceptable episode” in which Egyptian women were arrested for attending a demonstration at Tahrir Square, and forced to undergo “virginity tests*,” which “is nothing less than torture.” Since that day, Sahraoui said, “women protesters have repeatedly faced beatings, torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of Egypt’s army and security forces… The ‘virginity tests’ trial is a rare opportunity for Egypt’s military to signal that torture by the army does not go unpunished and that perpetrators of human rights violations among its ranks will be held to account.”

The verdict handed down Sunday means that torture will go unpunished and ...