Here's something sad. I'm not sure whether to be more upset at the Egyptian government's stupidity or at the men for pleading "not guilty":
July 19, 2001
Egypt Tries 52 Men Suspected of Being Gay
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
C AIRO, July 18 — In a high-profile
crackdown on suspected homosexual activity
that has been condemned by some legal activists
and human rights groups, 52 men were charged
today in a state security court with engaging in
immoral acts or religious offenses.
The accused were by far the largest group of men
put on trial at once in Egypt for suspected
homosexual acts, and the courtroom — far too
small to contain the defendants, their guards, some
three dozen lawyers, scores of family members and
journalists — was near pandemonium.
When the prosecutor read out the charge that most
of the defendants were accused of "practicing
debauchery with men," the defendants cried out
almost in unison: "It did not happen! This is
injustice!" All pleaded not guilty.
The sensational trial is part of a pattern of what gay
Egyptians call stepped-up harassment of any
homosexual activity in the last 8 to 10 months, much
of it related to the Internet. Many believe that the
government has acted to try to stamp out what was
becoming an increasingly open and vocal gay
community.
Homosexuality is not specifically outlawed in Egypt,
and lawyers and international human rights groups accused the government of
President Hosni Mubarak of circumventing the regular judicial system and its appeal
process to bring a dubious case to trial.
They noted that the largely misdemeanor charges of obscene behavior had been
brought before the Emergency State Security Court, part of the special emergency
laws established decades ago to protect against threats to national security and
extended repeatedly every since.
"What is very troubling is the use of these emergency or military or extraordinary
procedures for a case that in a democratic state really ought to be dealt with in a
normal judicial process," said Hany Megally, the Middle East director of Human
Rights Watch.
The same laws have been used to try Islamic activists seeking to overthrow the
government and a prominent advocate for democratic reform. There is no appeal
unless the president intervenes.
Two of the men were charged today with religious offenses — they include
contempt for religion, falsely interpreting the Koran and exploiting Islam to promote
deviant ideas — which could get them five years in jail. The morals charge leveled
against the rest carries a maximum of three years.
Lawyers and human rights groups said the accused had undergone humiliating
medical examinations in prison to determine whether they had recently engaged in
anal intercourse. In addition, they said, the men were apparently beaten until they
confessed to having a preference for homosexual acts.
Lawyers said they believed that the government's case was weak because such
morals charges usually require witnesses.
"It is a typical government attitude, to create from nothing cases to keep people
busy talking and distract them from more pressing problems like poverty, corruption
and unemployment," said Maha Youssef of the Hisham Mubarak Center for Human
Rights, which is defending several of the men.
The defendants, handcuffed and dressed in white T-shirts and pants, occupied one
entire side of the stifling room. They first bellowed separately, then chanted in
unison, that they did not want their pictures taken, sobbing or hiding their faces with
scraps of newspaper or plastic bags whenever a flash popped.
Several of their relatives screamed, slapped their own cheeks and then beat
photographers, while one prisoner had what guards called an epileptic seizure and
had to be carted from the room.
The prosecution, yelling above the din, did not present any evidence against the
accused before the judge delayed the next hearing until Aug. 15. The accused have
been held without bail for more than two months.
Many of the men were arrested on May 11 when the state security police raided the
Queen Boat, a Nile riverboat discothèque moored in the upscale Zamalek
neighborhood in front of the Marriott Hotel.
The police built a sensational case against the men in the press, releasing their names
and details about some of their jobs, like the director of a department at a
well-known medical school. The reports hinted that the men had taken part in
Satanic rituals and in a pornographic film to be released over the Internet. Those
accusations later disappeared.
"It is a way of sending a signal to the rest of the community that if you try to be more
public about your behavior, you run the risk of being arrested and convicted," Mr.
Megally said.
Sometimes the vice squad logged on to matchmaking services that advertised men
seeking men, answered the announcements in Egypt and then arrested the men who
turned up for rendezvous. In one case a student in the United States planning to
attend the American University in Cairo in the fall posted a notice on a gay bulletin
board asking if he would have to spend the year in celibacy. The Egyptian student
who responded saying there was a gay community here was arrested.
Since then the 20 or so gay chat rooms where Egyptians used to talk about their
problems or cruise have virtually shut down, and even those outside the country
carry warnings. "Egyptian state security police may be monitoring you!" reads one.
Being openly gay is not seen as a human rights issue here, and there is virtually no
public sympathy for the defendants.
Dr. Abd al-Moaty Bayoumy, dean of theology at Al Azhar University, noted that
Islamic law considers homosexuality a worse offense than adultery and is punishable
by death.
"We consider it strange how the laws of Western civilization are not alert to the
danger of this crime, but encourage it in the name of freedom," he said.
Even the directors of some local human rights organizations defended the
government. "No one has the right to be queer, because this goes against nature,"
said Muhammad Zari of the Human Rights Center for the Assistance of Prisoners.
"Even if Egypt permitted such practices, which is not the case and never will be," he
said, "the society will never accept it, because it violates our religion, our beliefs." |
