Bonnie Eslinger, Hossan Bahgat, Chronicle Foreign Service Wednesday, July 18, 2001 ©2001 San Francisco Chronicle
Cairo -- In a new assault on Egypt's gay community, 52 men who have been held since May after a raid on a floating nightclub will go on trial today on charges of obscene behavior and contempt of religion.
International human rights groups have condemned the Egyptian government's decision to bring the men to trial.
"Egyptian law does not outlaw homosexuality, but these men are being held on charges of violating public morals," said Scott Long, policy director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, in a joint protest statement with Human Rights Watch. "They are really being punished for exercising their basic rights to free speech."
The charge of obscene behavior carries a sentence of three months to three years. Two defendants, who also are charged with "contempt of religion," could face as long as five years in prison.
On May 11, police entered the Queen Boat nightclub, anchored on the Nile River across from the Cairo Marriott, around 2 a.m. After about 10 minutes, according to eyewitnesses, they began arresting only the Egyptian men present, loading them into vans parked outside.
"On that night, it was not crowded, very few people were dancing; people were sitting in small groups," said Maher, a 33-year-old gay man who asked that his last name not be published. A man with whom he shares a flat was among those arrested.
According to reports from families and friends of the defendants, the men were initially unable to contact lawyers or relatives, and some were beaten and mistreated. "He's been whipped, electrified and threatened by dogs," said Maher of his housemate. "On Saturday (after the arrest), he showed the prosecutor the (whip marks), the (scars) on his back and his stomach. The prosecutor didn't send him to a doctor to be clinically examined."
The men were, however, subjected to medical exams to establish whether they had practiced anal sex, according to the rights group Amnesty International. Results of the examinations were presented during preliminary hearings last month.
A source in the prosecutor's office told reporters the day after the raid that the defendants were "practicing deviant rituals and holding parties where they practiced group sex and abnormal activities."
Members of the boat's staff have refuted the allegations, and state security court prosecutors have not released details of the case against the men. Nonetheless, in the weeks after the raid, the Egyptian press elaborated on the state's charges, publishing reports of cult activities, gay weddings and devil worshipping. Several newspapers published the names of the defendants, some running their pictures with their eyes crossed over in black.
While homosexuality is not mentioned in the Egyptian penal code, statutes criminalizing obscenity and public indecency have been used by police to harass gay men. Routinely, men detained in such arrests have been released after a few days of detention. But recently, the police have upped the ante by rounding up groups of men at places where gays are known to gather.
Ahmed Zohny, a senior state prosecutor, said the men were not arrested for being gay, but for being indiscreet and
"advocating" their homosexuality.
"Anyone could have walked in (the Queen Boat) that night," he said. "It was a public place."
To the dismay of the imprisoned men, local human rights groups have not jumped to their defense. "We generally defend liberties, but there are red lines that we should stop at," said Samir Al Bagouri of the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid, in an interview with the Cairo Times.
The secretary-general of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Hafez Abu Saada, has said he is considering writing a book explaining why sexual preference is not a human right.
"Personally, I don't like the subject of homosexuality, and I don't want to defend them," Abu Saada told the Cairo Times.
In Egypt, open affection -- hand holding, hugs, arms draped around shoulders -- is naturally accepted among men, but sexual relations are considered perverse.
"There is a joke among Egyptian men," Maher said. "If they are walking and not holding hands, they are gay."
Calling for gay rights is out of the question because Egyptians believe that religion -- be it Islam or Christianity -- forbids homosexuality. "Any behavior that is rejected by both society and religion has to be punished. Otherwise we'd be living in a jungle," said Egyptian sociologist Azza Korayem, an adviser at the National Center for Sociological and Criminal Studies.
Gays in Egypt fear that today's mass trial signals a new phase in Egypt's long-simmering harassment of gays.
Last month, Egypt led a group of Muslim member countries of the United Nations that tried to strip U.N. credentials from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, based in San Francisco, because its name specifically refers to homosexuality. A majority vote of U.N. member states allowed the group to keep its credentials.
"Most gays are now trying to hide their identity more," said Maher. "All the (Internet) mailing lists and Web sites for Egyptian gay men were closed, not by the police, but by the men."
The only site still in operation is Gay-Egypt.com, which is based in London and thus out of reach of the Egyptian courts, although not beyond the prying eyes of the police.
"Egyptian security police may be monitoring you!" states a red-letter warning at the top of the site's page. "Try to avoid always logging on from the same location."
Police appear to be using the Web to ensnare gays. Stories circulate of men who answered personal ads only to find their "date" was a police officer, and raids on popular hangouts publicized on the Web remind gays that the Internet is no longer a safe place to meet.
In February, a Cairo criminal court jailed a computer engineer for 15 months and an accountant for three months for having committed the "scandalous act" of advertising sexual services on the Web.
"The general meeting places of homosexuals in Egypt are now deserted," said one gay man, who also requested anonymity. "People are more cautious about gathering and meeting."
"Everybody is scared," Maher said. "I'm trying to be cautious, but I don't want to be a coward."
He has been sending out anonymous e-mail updates on the case to human rights groups, the press, gay friends and sympathizers under a pseudonym that pays homage to the ancient god Horus.
And he has found allies even in Egpt's conservative and religious circles.
"They might believe they (homosexuals) are sinners, but they are not criminals," said Maher. "What they did was not against the law."
©2001 San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 12
----- Original Message ----- From: "Geraldo Cienmarcos" <garygch at quik.com> To: <mfaisalalam at yahoo.com> Cc: "change-links" <change-links at egroups.com>; <queerleft at QueerNet.ORG> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 11:47 AM Subject: QLEFT: IndyMedia article Dear Mr. Faisal Alam,
I am not a muslim, I am a humanist -- concerned about the human condition. I have subscribed to your list and have been passively and with admiration observing your postings.
I felt compelled to bring this article about the Egyptian arrestees to your attention. This is from The Independent Media, < http://www.indymedia.org/ > an international consortium of jounalists which pretends to be pro-justice and pro-labor and mainly anti-corporate globalism.
They have posted an article about the Egyptian arrests and characterized the detainees in what appears to me to be pejorative terms -- insulting at the worst. Notice the image imposed on a map of Egypt. URL> http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=53642&group=webcast
On a second subject you are probably aware of Alexander Cockburn's mention and criticism of your group in his column in The Nation Magazine ( http://www.thenation.com ) for not voicing more definitive opposition to the extremes of some culturally retragrade muslim regimes such as the Taliban.
At the time I was in agreement with some of his criticism. I am gratified to see your statement calling for a more militant activist stance against the injustice spawned by conservative fundamentalist muslims in positions of power.
I am cc'ing a copy of this e-epistle to some fellow progressives. I don't think this kind of insensitivity to sexual minorities in appropriate in the progressive media.
Thank you for your efforts, respectfully Gary Hundertmark (aka Geraldo Cienmarcos) garygch at quik.com
------ the article from IndyMedia ----- Passive Male Anuses Go On Trial In Egypt (english) by deSelby 10:34am Thu Jul 19 '01 deividsthang at saviorass.com
Human rights groups are concerned about the treatment of 54 Egyptian male anuses arrested by state security and vice officers almost a month ago. The state security is also concerned, though more in regards to the treatment of those 54 male anuses before their arrest....
Human rights groups are concerned about the treatment of 54 Egyptian male anuses arrested by state security and vice officers almost a month ago. The state security is also concerned, though more in regards to the treatment of those 54 male anuses before their arrest.
As reported by the BBC, the anuses were taken into custody after a raid on the Queen Boat, a club where male anuses are suspected of gathering in a passive manner. Though anuses and what those anuses do are generally of little interest to the state, the passive male anus is viewed as a blasphemer against Allah. One of the 54 anuses detained, along with a penile acquaintance, are accused of exploiting the Islamic religion to spread extremist ideas as well as engaging in sodomy as part of a group ritual the state believes is intended to insult the heavenly religions and spark civil strife. The rest of the 54 have been charged with practicing debauchery with penile accomplices. If convicted the anuses could face 5 years of jail time....
If you think you can handle the TROOF and wnat to read the rest of this smashing report you must go right now, immediately to www.saviorass.com
-- bye, Gary under the flight path. garygch at quik.com
"It is by the force of images, that in the course of time,
real revolutions are made." -- Andre Breton
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