Our Conceptions of Liberty and Justice Are Alien to Egyptians

The New York Time reports an Egyptian-American journalist said that she had been beaten and sexually assaulted while in detention.

A military official in Cairo, Col. Islam Jaffar, who came into contact with Ms. Eltahawy while she was in detention, acknowledged her accusation.


“She complained to me that she was beaten and sexually assaulted by Central Security Forces,” Mr. Jaffar said. “But what did she expect would happen? She was in the middle of the streets, in the midst of clashes, with no press card or form of ID. The press center had not given her permission to be in the streets as a journalist. The country is in a sensitive situation. We are under threat. She could be a spy for all we know.”

 Emphasis mine. "What did she expect would happen?" Well, Mr. Jaffar, here in civilized countries we expect that when people are arrested for any reason, they will not be beaten and sexually assaulted. That's what we expect would happen. Apparently that never occurs to him. Apparently if the Egyptian Central Security Forces get hold of a woman they decide is in the wrong place at the wrong time or otherwise suspicious, it's only natural -- expected -- that she will be beaten and sexually assaulted.

Savages.