reporter: now, the egyptian military, when we first reported this story, they denied any allegations that of torture or virginity tests being carried out. they did, however, confirm that 17 women were detained, along with a number of men that night. and that some of them, like hosani received one-year suspended jail sentences. we have gone back to the egyptian military today, and they have once again denied that this kind of sexual assault effectively took place. but this was part of a larger pattern of torture that we were consistently hearing, not always of sexual assault in carried out against demonstrators by egypt s military rulers in the months after the overthrow of hosni mubarak. and this happened almost a full month after president hosni mubarak stepped down by a military that is credible in control of that country. so do we think that these military officials are going to be facing justice?
we are now hearing from the teacher whose courage under fire we have been telling you about all day. first, though, cnn s nick valencia takes us through the terrifying moments. reporter: listen closely as this story unfolds. [ gunfire ] [ speaking in foreign language ] [ singing ] reporter: this was the scene at a kindergarten school in monterey, mexico on friday afternoon. a teacher calmly instructs her students to take cover and sing songs while suspected cartel members exchange gunfire outside of her classroom. the teacher, who is identified only as martha, tells the students to put their faces on the floor, that nothing is going to happen. as gunfire rages outside the classroom, the teacher asks the kids to sing along to a song by
reporter: it s a good question. egypt is going through a fascinating process right now, where its former president himself, hosni mubarak is being questioned by prosecutors, being accused of playing a role in the deaths of hundreds of protesters during the january and february revolution against his rule. the question is, the egyptian military, which is supposed to oversee a transition to democracy, could it then face prosecution for the widespread allegations of torture and other abuses, including sexual assault, effectively, that is alleged to be carried out under egyptian military rule. is the are the egyptian generals who are in power now, are they going to be willing to stand over power, if they too would face this kind of prosecution, the kind that hosni mubarak and his inner circle are now facing today? all right. ivan watson, thank you very much. excellent reporting. we ll have more on this very disturbing story about ten
barney the friendly dinosaur. reporter: five people were executed outside of the school. none of the children in the classroom was injured. the teacher later posted the video on youtube. it s received more than 1 million hits. it really is an unbelievable story. and nick is joining us live. nick, i understand you spoke exclusively with the teacher when she was reunited with the kids. i mean, it was quite amazing. people were saying she is a hero, quick thicker. did she explain why it was or how it came about that this was all being recorded as well? that s a great question, suzanne. in fact, mexico itself is a country, doesn t have a code of conduct per se for these types of situations. but local school districts, including this one that she is a part of, have violence preparedness seminars. she leads a commission for violence preparedness for her school. so she was saying she was actually cataloging this as part of evidence for this security commission she is on. what does s
online deals can save you 50% or more at your favorite restaurant or store. we re going to break down the hottest websites, and which ones save you the most. so, you can vote by texting 22360. text 1 for crime clues on facebook. 2 for pricing homes to sell. or 3 for online daily deals. winning story is going to air later this hour. back to our lead story on forced virginity tests in egypt. a senior egyptian general has admitted to cnn that its military forcibly subjected female protesters to the invasive exams following protests on march 9th, a month after president hosni mubarak resigned. the military calls them virginity checks. it s considered sexual assault and torture. we re joined from new york. a columnist on arab and muslim issues. moana, thank you for joining us. first of all, help us understand this. can you explain what a virginity