Two human rights organisations have accused the Egyptian authorities of having arbitrarily detained – and in some cases tortured – women and girls related to suspected members of the Islamic State group (IS).
Human Rights Watch and the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights say the detentions often appear to have been used to put pressure on family members suspected of links to Egyptian jihadists affiliated to IS.
Lawyers and witnesses interviewed for the report say the aim was to provide information on suspected jihadists or to get them to turn themselves in.
The report says some of the women and girls had themselves been victims of the IS-linked group.