Hope turns to despair as Egypt arrests witnesses to alleged 2014 gang rape

Activists say detentions break promise to protect those standing up to sexual assault

Egyptian security forces have arrested six witnesses, including three women, in an investigation into an alleged gang-rape case previously hailed as a watershed moment for women's rights.

Feminist campaigners and a researcher from the organisation Human Rights Watch said six people had been arrested overnight in their homes by the country's powerful National Security Agency, including a woman seized from her car in front of her building. Another was arrested at her holiday home after the NSA could not find her at her Cairo address.