-- Amnesty slams "immorality" charge for Egyptian boy --
CAIRO, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Human rights group Amnesty
International called on Egypt on Tuesday to free a teenager
jailed for three years for "practising sexual immorality".
Prosecutors said the boy, now 16, was arrested along with 52
other men in a raid on a floating Nile nightclub called the
Queen Boat, known locally as a popular gay night spot.
Then 15, he was sentenced to three years in juvenile
detention last month, the maximum sentence he could receive. He
faces an appeal hearing on Wednesday, Amnesty said.
"We are extremely concerned about the conviction and harsh
sentencing of a child for his alleged sexual orientation,"
Amnesty said in a joint statement with the New York-based Human
Rights Watch and two other rights groups.
"We are seriously concerned that this child was interrogated
in violation of international standards," it said.
Amnesty said the 52 other men had reported being subjected
to torture and ill-treatment during pre-trial detention, and
that it knows of no impartial investigation into those
allegations.
Those men are being tried in a state security court under
emergency law and will not be allowed to appeal their verdict,
due out next month.
Amnesty did not say whether it thought the boy had been
tortured, but said during his first two weeks of detention he
was not allowed to see his family or a lawyer.
Amnesty also disputed the prosecutors' claims the boy was
arrested in the Queen Boat raid, saying he was arrested in
downtown Cairo a day later.
The Queen Boat case has drawn sharp criticism from
international rights groups, which say the men are being tried
for their possible sexual orientation and for exercising freedom
of speech and association. All defendants plead not guilty.
Homosexuality is regarded as taboo in Egypt, but is not
expressly prohibited by law.
((Cairo Newsroom, +202 578 3290, fax +202 574 7078,
cairo.newsroom@reuters.com)) |
