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Gay Egypt News & Reports 2008

Also see:
Gay Egypt News & Reports 2001-02
Gay Egypt News & Reports 2003-07
Gay Egypt (Part 1)
Gay Egypt (Part 2)

Useful website for LGBT Africa: http://www.mask.org.za/

Important Report: In a Time of Torture: The Assault on Justice In Egypt’s Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct 3/04
by Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Project at Human Rights Watch
Address for this report: http://hrw.org/reports/2004/egypt0304/

Also see:
Gay Middle East Stories and News/Reports on GlobalGayz.com
Gay Middle East Web Site: http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/
More information about Islam & Homosexuality can be found at: www.al-fatiha.org
Other articles of interest can be found at: groups.yahoo.com/group/al-fatiha-news
Queer Muslim magazine: Huriyah

Gay Islam discussion groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muslimgaymen     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lgbtmuslim
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/queerjihad          http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bimuslims
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transmuslims       http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lesbianmuslims

Gay Islam Reports 1998-2002
Gay Islam Reports 2003-05
Gay Islam Reports 2006-07

1 Onscreen lesbian kiss upsets Egyptian academics 1/08

2 Egypt accused of criminalising HIV positive gay men 2/08

3 Human rights groups protest at HIV arrests in Egypt 2/08

4 HIV positive status is still being associated with homosexuality in Egypt 3/08

5 International pressure on Egypt over HIV arrests 4/08

6 Gay Men Face Jail in Egypt, Kuwait in Bid to Appease Islamists 4/08

7 Egypt film stars seek to shatter stigma of AIDS 4/08

7th January 2008

1
Onscreen lesbian kiss upsets Egyptian academics

A lesbian sex scene in an Egyptian film has outraged religious scholars, who are telling people not to watch the 'sinful' movie. An Islamic Studies professor at Cairo University wants the Egyptian authorities to prosecute the director and both actresses involved in the scene, Ghada Abdel-Razeq and Sumaya Al-Khashab. Dr Abdel-Sabour Shahin believes the film, Hina Maysara (Until Further Notice), promotes homosexuality and debauchery and destroys morality in society. Muslim teachers at Al-Azhar University have also slammed the film and support Shahin's indignation. One professor at the University, Elwi Amin, claimed there was no lesbianism in Egypt. He also said that watching scenes of a sexual nature, whether homosexual or heterosexual, was a sin. "Many people in Egypt do not even know what the word 'lesbianism' means. This is the influence of immoral Western culture which controls the media," he told the Al Arabiya News Channel.

One of the actresses, Sumaya Al-Khashab, does not regret making the scene and highlighted it was important to the narrative of the movie: "Whoever watches the movie will realize that this scene was important to the storyline and is not included just to be sensational," she said.

This was not the first homosexual scene in Egyptian cinema, although the previous scene involved men instead of women. Director Khaled Youssef asked people to watch the film before they made up their minds: "I will not respond to those who criticise without even watching the movie. Lots of people accuse me of apostasy and immorality based on seeing the film poster."

Although Egyptian law does not explicitly forbid homosexuality, the practice is considered taboo in what is a conservative and mostly Muslim country. Most Egyptians look down on homosexuality, which leads very few Egyptian LGBTs to come out of the closet. Furthermore, the Egyptian government has been known for arresting homosexuals on the grounds of "offences against public morals and sensitivities" or "violating the teachings of religion and propagating depraved ideas and moral depravity."

Any group or meeting of LGBT people is entirely underground and secret.

pinknews.co.uk
http://pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6768.html

6th February 2008

2
Egypt accused of criminalising HIV positive gay men

by PinkNews.co.uk staff writer
Four men convicted last month by a court in Cairo of consensual homosexual sex are the victims of state prejudice against people with HIV, according to a leading human rights organisation. A series of arrests began when one man, challenged by police during a street altercation with another man, told officers he is HIV positive. Both were arrested and investigated for homosexual conduct, assaulted while in custody, forced to sign false statements and then had to undergo anal examinations that would be used as "proof" they had sex, says Human Rights Watch.

"These shocking arrests and trials embody both ignorance and injustice," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Programme at HRW. "Egypt threatens not just its international reputation but its own population if it responds to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with prison terms instead of prevention and care." HRW contends that forced examinations are both medically spurious and constitute torture.

Two other men were arrested after their phone numbers because their photographs or telephone numbers were found on the first two detainees. HRW reports that the Egyptian authorities subjected all to HIV tests without their consent. All four are still in detention. The first two arrestees, who reportedly tested HIV-positive, are being held in a Cairo hospital, handcuffed to their beds and only unchained for an hour each day. Although Egyptian law does not explicitly forbid homosexuality, the practice is considered taboo in what is a conservative and mostly Muslim country.

The men were prosecuted for the "habitual practice of debauchery." The Egyptian authorities have repeatedly arrested homosexuals on the grounds of "offences against public morals and sensitivities" or "violating the teachings of religion and propagating depraved ideas and moral depravity." According to defence attorneys, the prosecution case was based their case only on coerced and repudiated statements taken from the men, and neither called witnesses nor produced other evidence to counter the men's pleas of not guilty.

On Saturday a Cairo appeals court upheld their one-year prison sentence. HRW reports that one of them is held in a Cairo hospital, chained to his bed 23 hours a day. Most Egyptians look down on homosexuality, which leads very few Egyptian LGBTs to come out of the closet. Any group or meeting of LGBT people is entirely underground and secret.

"These cases show Egyptian police acting on the dangerous belief that HIV is not a condition to be treated but a crime to be punished," said Mr Long. "HIV tests forcibly taken without consent, ill-treatment in detention, trials driven by prejudice, and convictions without evidence all violate international law."

HRW has written to the Egyptian Public Prosecutor to express grave concern about the arrests and their consequences for Egypt's efforts against HIV/AIDS and urged the authorities to drop the charges, end the practice of chaining detainees in hospital, and ensure that the men receive the highest available standard of medical care for any serious health conditions. It also urged Egypt to undertake training for all criminal-justice officials on medical facts and international human rights standards in relation to HIV, and to halt immediately all testing of detainees without their consent.

pinknews.co.uk
http://pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6868.html

15th February 2008

3
Human rights groups protest at HIV arrests in Egypt

by PinkNews.co.uk staff writer
Cairo police have arrested four more men suspected of having HIV, signaling a wider crackdown that endangers public health and violates basic human rights in Egypt, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today in a joint statement. The recent arrests bring to 12 the number of men held in a campaign against people police suspect of being HIV-positive. Four have already been sentenced to a year in jail and eight are still in custody. The most recent arrests occurred after police used information coerced from men already in detention, according to the Health and Human Rights Programme of the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

Two of the newly detained men tested positive for HIV. One had his detention extended by 15 days at his 12 February court hearing, with the prosecutor and judge both claiming he was a danger to public health. Another has a hearing scheduled for 23 February. As in all previous cases, authorities forced the new detainees to undergo HIV testing without their consent. All those testing positive have been held in Cairo hospitals, chained to their beds.

Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, said: "Arbitrary arrests, forcible HIV tests, and physical abuse only add to the disgraceful record of Egypt’s criminal justice system, where torture and ill-treatment are greeted with impunity."

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also called on Egyptian authorities to respect the men's human rights and to immediately release them so as not to cause lasting damage to the country’s HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.

Rebecca Schleifer, advocate for the HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Programme at Human Rights Watch, said: "In their misguided attempt to apply Egypt's unjust law on homosexual conduct, authorities are carrying on a crackdown against people living with HIV/AIDS. This not only violates the most basic rights of people living with HIV. It also threatens public health, by making it dangerous for anyone to seek information about HIV prevention or treatment."

The current wave of arrests began in October 2007, when police intervened between two men having an argument on a street in central Cairo. When one of them told the officers that he was HIV-positive, police immediately took them both to the Morality Police office and opened an investigation against them for homosexual conduct. Police demanded the names of their friends and sexual contacts during interrogations. The two men told lawyers that officers slapped and beat them for refusing to sign statements the police wrote for them.

The men spent four days in the Morality Police office handcuffed to an iron desk, and were left to sleep on the floor. Police later subjected the two men to forensic anal examinations designed to "prove" that they had engaged in homosexual conduct. Such forcible examinations to detect "evidence" of homosexuality are not only medically spurious, but also can amount to torture. Police then arrested two more men because their photographs or telephone numbers were found on the first two detainees. Authorities subjected all four men to HIV tests without their consent. All four are still in detention, pending prosecutors' decisions on whether to bring charges of homosexual conduct. The first two arrestees, who reportedly tested HIV-positive, are still being held in hospital, handcuffed to their beds. A prosecutor reportedly told one of the men who tested positive for HIV: "People like you should be burnt alive. You do not deserve to live."

Behind the Mask
http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=egypt&id=1826

March 6, 2008

4
HIV positive status is still being associated with homosexuality in Egypt

By Nthateng Mhlambiso (BTM Senior Reporter)

HIV positive status is still being associated with homosexuality in Egypt, hence punishable.
This came in the wake of arrest of twelve men after one of them disclosed to police that he was living with Aids, and was instantly condemned for homosexuality.

As in many countries in the world, homosexuals – particularly gay men – were commonly seen as HIV and Aids carriers. In Egypt they are still perceived like that and HIV and Aids is also associated with drug users according to sources.
These arrests began in October last year when police stopped two men jostling each other on a street in central Cairo.
After one of them told the police officers that he was HIV positive, he was then immediately taken with the other to the Morality Police Office and a case of homosexual conduct was instigated against them.

The men told human rights defenders that they were slapped and beaten for refusing to sign statements the police wrote.
They spent four days at the Morality Police Office handcuffed to an iron desk and sleeping on the floor.
Police later subjected the two men to forensic anal examinations designed to prove that they had engaged in homosexual conduct.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), such examinations to ‘detect evidence’ of homosexuality are not only spurious but constitute torture.

Furthermore, police arrested two more men because their photographs and telephone contacts were found from the detainees where they were all forced to undertake an HIV test without their consent, and one of them tested positive.
Those tested positive were sent to Cairo Hospital where they were handcuffed to their beds for some days.

Later on, on 20 November, police raided an apartment and arrested four men in connection of homosexuality.
A Cairo court convicted these four men on 13 January this year under Article 9 (c) of Law 10/1961, which criminalises the ‘habitual practice of debauchery’.

On 15 February, Cairo Police arrested four more men suspected of having HIV, bringing to 12 of the men being arrested.
Meanwhile HRW called upon Egyptian authorities to overturn convictions of these men for the ‘habitual practice of debauchery’.
“ These shocking arrests and trials embody both ignorance and injustice. Egypt threatens not just its international reputation but its own reputation if it responds to the HIV/Aids epidemic with prison terms instead of prevention and care”, Scott Long, Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at HRW said.

Long added that these cases show that Egyptian police believe that HIV is not a condition to be treated, but a crime to be punished for.

In private letters sent to the Egyptian Public Prosecutor, Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, last November and again in January this year, HRW expressed its grave concern about the arrests and their consequences for Egypt’s efforts against HIV and Aids.
The HRW urged Egypt to undertake training for all criminal-justice officials on medical facts and international human rights standards in relation to HIV, and to halt immediately testing of detainees without their consent.

In a joint statement with Amnesty International, the HRW also called on the Egyptian authorities to respect human rights, and to immediately release the men to avoid causing damage to Egypt’s HIV and Aids prevention efforts.

Asked whether the HRW is planning to take any further steps if their demands are not met, Gasser Abdel-Razek, the HRW representative in Cairo said that they can only be able to publicly inform people about the case, involve those who can be able to help and use the media.

“ We believe that involving the media and publicly informing people about the case has made an impact”, Abdel-Razek said.
Currently most Egyptians see homosexuality and trangenderism as forbidden and detestable. The Egyptian government uses the National Security Courts and various laws to arrest LGBTI people at night clubs, private events and at online chartrooms. Most LGBTI native Egyptians and foreigners live in the closet.

The Egyptian government started to allow confidential HIV testing in 2005 but still people are afraid in case it is found out that they are positive because they would be labeled homosexuals and subject them to jail.

Four have been sentenced to a one year imprisonment while four are still in custody. The other four are at hospital. However, the HRW condemned this saying it threatens justice and public health in Egypt.

pinknews.co.uk
http://pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7329.html

7th April 2008

5
International pressure on Egypt over HIV arrests

by PinkNews.co.uk staff writer
More than 115 organisations that advocate human rights and the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS have protested to the government of Egypt over a spate of recent arrests. The groups signing the letter represent 41 countries on six continents, among them Human Rights Watch and Amnesty. In a letter to the Health Ministry and the Egyptian Doctors' Syndicate, the groups said that doctors who helped interrogate men jailed on suspicion of being HIV-positive violated their own medical ethics. Five more men face trial in Cairo on Wednesday in what has been called "a police crackdown" on people living with HIV/AIDS. At least 12 men have been arrested and four have already been sentenced to a year in jail.

The most recent arrests occurred after police used information coerced from men already in detention, according to the Health and Human Rights Programme of the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). As in all previous cases, authorities forced the new detainees to undergo HIV testing without their consent. All those testing positive had been held in Cairo hospitals, chained to their beds. After a domestic and international outcry, the Ministry of Health finally ordered the men unchained on 25th February. All the men were charged with the "habitual practice of debauchery," a term which in Egyptian law includes consensual sexual acts between men.

EIPR reportedly found a document from the Ministry of Health and Population titled Questionnaire for Patients with HIV/AIDS in one of the men's case files. It includes 'yes' or 'no' questions that doctors from the ministry apparently use to interrogate people in the crackdown about whether they had sexual relations 'with the other sex' or 'with the same sex,' and 'with one person' or 'with more than one person.' Prosecutors included the men's answers that they had relations with the same sex as evidence of their guilt.

Malcolm Smart, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme of Amnesty International, said: "It is unacceptable for doctors to perform forcible HIV tests, or to examine people to 'prove' offences that should never be criminalised. Doctors who engage in or enable human rights abuses are violating their most elemental responsibilities."

Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS programme at Human Rights Watch, said: "Doctors must put patients first, not join a witch-hunt driven by prejudice. Now more than 100 human rights groups are reminding Egyptian doctors of the oath they took to respect patients' privacy, autonomy, and consent. This is one of the oldest traditions of medical responsibility, as well as an obligation under human rights law."

To read the letter from 117 health and human rights organisations to Egypt's Health Ministry and the Egyptian Doctors' Syndicate click here.

Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aMsUQl_hCVVo&refer=home#

April 8, 2008

6
Gay Men Face Jail in Egypt, Kuwait in Bid to Appease Islamists

by Daniel Williams
(Bloomberg) - 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, Egyptian police have embarked on periodic sweeps of downtown streets 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 isn't illegal in Egypt, though it is a convenient target, says Hani Shukrallah, executive director of the Heikal Foundation for Arab Journalism in Cairo.

"Meaningless crackdowns have become a regular thing,'' Shukrullah says. "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.

`Prisoners of Conscience'

The men were sentenced to jail terms of four 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,'' London-based Amnesty said in a statement. Last December, Kuwait's parliament passed a law that criminalized ``imitating the appearance of the opposite sex.'' Subsequent roundups netted at least 16 suspects, New York-based Human Rights Watch reported March 31, adding that three detainees were beaten. The suppressive wave created another stir among human- rights activists in February when Egypt's 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 in jail and, by inspecting their mobile phones, found the numbers of 10 acquaintances, whom they also arrested. They forced all to submit to HIV testing, according to the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

Egyptian Law

Four were sentenced to a year in prison for debauchery, a crime under Egyptian law defined 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,'' says 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-sponsored 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 news release. 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, says, ``we're not allowed to talk about.'' Ashraf El-Enany, a spokesman at the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of police, declined to comment.

Cairo Cafe

Against this backdrop, it's dangerous to ``come out,'' a fundamental virtue in Western gay-activist thinking. Take Behaa Saber Semeda, 35. Police first arrested him at a Cairo cafe in 1997 with a group of friends. He says 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 statue of limitations had expired. Instead, he was sent to prison.

In 2005, he became politically active, creating a double whammy. He says 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.

No Future

He says he's unemployed and lives off his family. "I don't have a future,'' he says, noting his original conviction for debauchery is still in his record. "If they don't get me for being gay, they'll get me for being anti-government.''

Ahmed A., a 20-year-old computer student, says he has 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 says. "We don't go to discos,'' he says. "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.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net.

news.yahoo.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080426/hl_afp/egyptaidsrightsentertainment_080426081303

April 26, 2008

7
Egypt film stars seek to shatter stigma of AIDS

by Alain Navarro
A lonely voice in a conservative society, rising Egyptian film star Amr Waked is speaking out against his country's unofficial policy of jailing people suffering with AIDS. "It's insane that this happens in our country!" said Waked, whose controversial roles -- including playing alongside an Israeli actor -- have made him the target of press attacks. Together with celebrity actor Khaled Abul Naga, who was recently appointed a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, Waked has taken on the task of getting Egypt to face the taboo of AIDS. "The deliberate confusion (around the issue) must stop -- stigmatisation does not help the fight against AIDS," he said, adding that he hopes to be part of a new generation dedicated to shattering such persistent stereotypes.

On April 9 a Cairo court jailed five men, four of them HIV-positive, for three years on charges of "debauchery" linked to homosexuality in what rights groups called a "witch-hunt." "Three of them broke down in tears and the two others were just stunned," said Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, one of the rare NGOs in the country to defend homosexuals. The five were forced to have HIV tests and were chained to hospital beds until the results became known. While homosexuality itself is not included in a list of sexual offences explicitly outlawed by Egypt's Islamic-inspired legislation, it can be punished under several different laws on morality.

According to law number 10 of 1961, "debauchery" is the loose term used to criminalise sex between homosexuals. "They have appealed the court ruling but remain in prison. We don't know if they have access to care," Wessam al-Beih, country director of UNAIDS, the United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS, told AFP. Since October seven other homosexuals have been arrested and forced to take HIV tests, enduring insult and humiliation and being chained to beds, Bahgat said.

Three were released but the four others were each sentenced to a year behind bars. The local press and local non-governmental organisations have hardly batted an eyelid over the treatment of the homosexuals, but 117 international NGOs including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the crackdown and illegal testing by doctors. Bahgat believes this is not so much an attack against the gay community as it is a clampdown on AIDS, however. "Unlike incidents in the past this is not a renewed homophobic attack, but it's an offensive against AIDS via security measures," he said.

In 2001 a raid on the "Queen Boat," a floating nightclub on the Nile in an upmarket Cairo neighbourhood, ended with the arrest of 52 gay men, half of whom were charged with debauchery and offending Islam. For Waked, "deep ignorance of AIDS is coupled with religious prejudices. These convictions will only further reinforce prejudices while making the fight against AIDS all the more difficult," he said. Abul Naga echoes the view. "The convictions are very worrying, increasing the idea that AIDS is not a disease to treat but a crime to punish," he told AFP. "People will be too scared to take an HIV test voluntarily."

But the country's religious authorities take a different view. "It is a disease sent by God to punish sexual deviants," said Sheikh Mohammed Saleh from Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning. For years, the authorities have denied or sought to minimise the existence of AIDS in Egypt, and even today official figures on people living with AIDS do not exist.

"It goes from 2,000 to 17,000 people living with AIDS, but Egypt is one of the countries with the highest rate of increase," said Beih from UNAIDS, estimating that 80 percent of women sufferers were infected by their husbands. But Waked, who starred in the film "Aquarium" which talks of HIV, remains hopeful that society is changing. "Egypt is starting to move forward, a whole generation is waiting for it."