From the
International Herald TribuneGays in Egypt besieged by wave of suppression
By Daniel Williams
Bloomberg News
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
CAIRO: The young men who loitered at the west end of
the Qasr El-Nil Bridge in Cairo spied the blue pickup
truck, a sign they should scatter.
"They're police," said Ahmed A., making a two-finger
gesture on his shoulder to indicate epaulets. "They
park and the pigs come out and grab everyone they
can."
For three months, the Egyptian police have embarked on
periodic sweeps of streets in central Cairo to clear
them of presumed homosexuals. The raids, independent
observers and human rights activists say, reflect not
simply official disgust. They're part of an effort by
governments throughout the Middle East to out-moralize
Islamic parties that have denounced the perceived
depravity of Arab societies under autocratic rule.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt, though it is a
convenient target, said Hani Shukrallah, executive
director of the Heikal Foundation for Arab Journalism
in Cairo.
"Meaningless crackdowns have become a regular thing,"
Shukrullah said. "If not gays, devil worshippers. If
not devil worshippers, apostates. The government needs
to outbid Islamic opponents as guardian of morals."
In January, six men in Morocco were accused of
homosexual conduct, a crime in that country, after a
video circulated that showed one dancing at a wedding
dressed as a woman, according to Amnesty
International.
The men were sentenced to jail terms of 4 to 10
months. "Persons imprisoned solely on the basis of
their alleged or real sexual orientation are prisoners
of conscience and should be immediately and
unconditionally released," Amnesty, which is based in
London, said in a statement.
In December, the Kuwaiti Parliament passed a law that
criminalized "imitating the appearance of the opposite
sex." Subsequent roundups netted at least 16 suspects,
Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York,
reported March 31, adding that three detainees were
beaten.
The suppressive wave created another stir among human
rights activists in February when the Egyptian
morality police arrested two men on a Cairo street.
One said he was infected with HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS. The police threw both men in jail and, by
inspecting their mobile phones, found the numbers of
10 acquaintances, whom they also arrested. They forced
all of them to submit to HIV testing, according to the
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, based in
Cairo.
Four of them were sentenced to a year in prison for
debauchery, a crime that Egyptian law defines as
having sex for money or with a number of partners over
an extended period. Five of the remaining eight face
trial April 9 on the same charge even though they were
found to be free of disease.
"From a public health perspective, this is dangerous,"
said Suha Abdelati, an EIPR official. "It forces
people underground. "
On April 7, 117 human rights organizations from 41
countries sent a letter to the Egyptian Health
Ministry and a government-sponsore d doctors' union
condemning the crackdown and participation of medical
personnel. "Doctors must put patients first, not join
a witch hunt driven by prejudice," Joe Amon, director
of the HIV/AIDS program at Human Rights Watch, said in
a statement.
The Egyptian government's National AIDS Program
provides testing and treatment. When asked to comment
about the impact of the arrests, Zein El-Din Abedeen,
an official, said, "We're not allowed to talk about."
Ashraf El-Enany, a spokesman at the Interior Ministry,
which is in charge of the police, declined to comment.
Against this backdrop, it is dangerous to "come out,"
a fundamental virtue in Western gay-activist thinking.
Take Behaa Saber Semeda, 35. The police first arrested
him at a Cairo café in 1997 with a group of friends.
He said he was beaten into signing a confession to
prostitution; a court sentenced him to six months
imprisonment. He appealed and remained free while the
case languished for more than five years, during which
he served in the army and worked in restaurants.
In 2003, he asked a court to dismiss his case on the
grounds that the statute of limitations had expired.
Instead, he was sent to prison.
In 2005, he became politically active, creating a
double whammy. He said the police found him with a
Human Rights Watch report and jailed him for six days.
In 2006, he was caught in a roundup of anti-government
demonstrators and detained for 15 days. In 2007, he
was charged with disturbing the peace at a
pro-democracy rally. That case is pending.
He said he is unemployed and lives off his family. "I
don't have a future," he said, noting that his
original conviction for debauchery is still on his
record. "If they don't get me for being gay, they'll
get me for being anti-government. "
The Egyptian police harassment of homosexuals burst
into public view in 2001 when they raided a floating
disco on the Nile called the Queen Boat and arrested
52 men, subjected them to forensic examinations and
charged them with debauchery.
Twenty three of the detainees were sentenced to
between one and five years hard labor. President Hosni
Mubarak overturned the verdicts in May 2002, because
the trial was held in the wrong court. A retrial
confirmed the sentences. By that time, most of the
defendants had gone into hiding.
Ahmed A., a 20-year-old computer student, said he had
no intention of letting his predilections become
public. He meets acquaintances in homes or wanders the
streets for entertainment. There are a few clandestine
bath houses and movie theaters where gays gather, he
said.
"We don't go to discos," he said. "In Egypt, everyone
will push you away if you are gay."
Ahmed and four gay friends decamped to Tahrir Square,
a crowded spot where hanging out attracts little
attention. Still, they were on the lookout when a pal
rushed up and put his fingers to his shoulders.
"There's a policeman over there," he said, pointing to
a man in a loose-fitting civilian jacket.
The group walked slowly up Talaat Harb Street and
disappeared into the crowd.
