Rabow raids: Egypt lnch s wist anti-gay crackdown yet | Rters

Contents:

• 'YOU N'T BE OUT': GAY EGYPTIANS NTUE TO FEAR PERSECUTN
• ARRTS AND TORTURE OF GAYS, LBIANS EGYPT ARE ‘SYSTEMATIC,’ RIGHTS REPORT SAYS
• IN DIALOGUE WH EGYPT, EXPERTS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMTEE COMMEND MEASUR COMBATTG DISCRIMATN, RAISE ISSU CONCERNG TREATMENT OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR AND INTERSEX PERSONS AND JUDICIAL INPENNCE
• RABOW RAIDS: EGYPT LNCH S WIST ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN YET

'YOU N'T BE OUT': GAY EGYPTIANS NTUE TO FEAR PERSECUTN

Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (other penalty)Gay Marriage⚭✖ UnregnizedCensorship✖ Imprisonment as punishmentChangg Genr✖ Legal, but requir surgeryNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsDonatg Blood✖ Banned (fe ferral)Conversn Therapy✖ Not banned. N/A Age of Consent is unequal/applible practice, same-genr sexual behavr is punished by ernmental offils, meang that both age and nsent are irrelevant to the illegaly of homosexualy Egypt.

I’m not the person I was.”Eight Egyptian men nvicted for "cg bchery" followg their appearance a vio of an alleged same-sex weddg party leave the fendant's ge a urtroom Cairo, Egypt on Nov 1, 2014.Hassan Ammar / AP fileEl-Kashif is one of 15 people who shared harrowg stori of abe wh Human Rights Watch for s recently published report “Egypt: Secury Forc Abe, Torture LGBT People.” The report’s ma fdgs clu arbrary arrts of people thought to be LGBTQ; entrapment of gay and bisexual men through social workg and datg apps; and torture and prolonged tament of sexual and genr mori state ctody.“Egyptian thori seem to be petg for the worst rerd on rights vlatns agast LGBT people the regn, while the ternatnal silence is appallg,” Rasha Youn, an LGBTQ rights rearcher at Human Rights Watch, stated the report. Their acunts allege systemic abe throughout the judicial system Egypt, one of approximately 70 untri around the globe that crimaliz homosexualy — whether explicly or jt practice.All but three of those prosecuted went by psdonyms the report, for fear of retaliatn by Egyptian thori. Egypt is one of seven untri that forced anal exams to “prove” a person’s homosexualy, acrdg to Human Rights Watch.Hossam Ahmed, a 27-year-old transgenr man arrted 2019 and released last month, was placed a women’s prison where he was given an ID rd that said “female” and nied his genr-affirmg treatment, acrdg to the report.

Alaa said he was verbally abed and threatened by officers who then put him solary nfement.“I was prepared to end my life if they prolonged my tentn,” he told Human Rights Watch.A change powerWhile LGBTQ people have long been subjected to homophobia and transphobia Egypt, Youn said the suatn worsened after s current print, Abl-Fattah el-Sissi, took power 2014.“Before el-Sissi took power, they had some breathg room to at least exist public whout beg attacked, arrted or harassed,” Youn said of sexual and genr mori. “At the same time, LGBTQ rights activists have formed strong works of ristance and solidary that allowed them to protect each other om vlence.”A major turng pot me September 2017 followg a ncert Cairo by Lebane band Mashrou’ Leila, whose lead sger is openly gay. 12, 2017.Jamal Saidi / Rters fileThe cint was then followed by a crackdown which police and state secury agenci arrted over 100 spected LGBTQ people over the followg year g social media to entrap them, acrdg to an NPR terview wh Dalia Abl Hameed, head of the genr program for the Egyptian Iniative for Personal Rights, a human rights anizatn.Homosexualy is not explicly a crime Egypt, acrdg to Pla Gerber, a human rights law profsor at Monash Universy Atralia.

ARRTS AND TORTURE OF GAYS, LBIANS EGYPT ARE ‘SYSTEMATIC,’ RIGHTS REPORT SAYS

Gerber said LGBTQ people are often arrted and charged wh prostutn, a broadly wrten law crimalizg any activy that offends “relign,” “natnal uny” or “social peace.”Even if legal charg agast LGBTQ people are dismissed, merely beg acced of an LGBTQ-related offense n e dividuals to be ostracized om their fai, lose their social safety s or be nied accs to employment, medil re or legal protectn, acrdg to Youn.Government monorgYoun said Egyptian thori actively monor social media and cy streets to crackdown on LGBTQ people and others who are prottg or anizg for civil rights, all of which are labeled as subversn or even terrorism.Human Rights Watch said police will set up fake profil masqueradg as gay men on datg apps like Grdr and social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp an attempt to meet public or learn the nam and meetg plac of other queer people for future raids and arrts. Queer people will often talk for months onle before agreeg to meet public, bee — addn to police — they know that rapists, thiev and blackmailers also target gay men on the apps, knowg they won’t go to police if they’re attacked, acrdg to Human Rights Watch.Someone wantg to meet public may get stood up by a reluctant partner several tim before the partner fally feels safe enough to actually appear, Khalid said.

LGBTQ Egyptians also fear obtag medil re, such as tts for sexually transmted illns, or will sometim marry other queer people of the oppose genr, to avoid beg outed and persecuted.A polil wedge issueKhalid said the Egyptian ernment has long ed anti-LGBTQ arrts to whip up support among Islamic nservativ while distractg cizens om poor livg ndns and other civil rights ab.Increasgly, he said, Egyptian lears are parrotg “moral” and psdoscientific rhetoric ed by Christian nservativ the Wt, accg queer people of recg children and stroyg humany or claimg homosexualy as a disease or mental illns that harms the immune system and fects others.Youn said the Egyptian ernment regularly ni reports of human rights ab as pletely fabrited.“If there weren’t problems that warrants reportg, we won’t go lookg for them,” Youn said. To the world, you’ve been greatly cel, but I five,” Hegazy wrote the note, which was published part The New York Tim.People attend a memorial for Sarah Hegazy Amsterdam on June 19, 2020.Romy Arroyo Fernanz / NurPhoto via Getty ImagKhalid said queer Egyptians worldwi share a sense of shock and trma around her story, knowg n happen to themselv and their iends.Youn said supporters of LGBTQ rights — whether private dividuals or ernment officials — have a role to play protectg lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people Egypt.She enurag the ternatnal muny to support, promote and empower Egyptian LGBTQ anizatns by helpg to provi fundg and secure platforms where they n nnect and anize. Egypt's anti-gay crackdown ma headl last September, but one year later, human-rights advot and LGBTQ Egyptians say the persecutn 18, 2018, 4:00 PM UTCOmar* is a 30-year-old physician livg Alexandria, Egypt, the untry’s send largt cy.

”A fan of Lebane alternative rock band Mashrou' Leila holds a rabow flag durg their ncert at the Ehniyat Internatnal Ftival Ehn town, Lebanon on Augt 12, Saidi / Rters fileHomosexualy is not explicly illegal this untry that bridg northeast Ai wh the Middle East, but people are routely arrted and imprisoned on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientatn and genr inty, acrdg to Amnty September was the worst crackdown the untry’s history, wh up to 76 people beg taed, acrdg to the human-rights anizatn. The cint garnered ternatnal attentn, but one year later, gay Egyptians and human-rights advot say the persecutn ntu, and Egypt’s LGBTQ muny is livg fear.

IN DIALOGUE WH EGYPT, EXPERTS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMTEE COMMEND MEASUR COMBATTG DISCRIMATN, RAISE ISSU CONCERNG TREATMENT OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR AND INTERSEX PERSONS AND JUDICIAL INPENNCE

EGYPTIAN LAWWhile same-sex sexual relatns are not explicly prohibed Egyptian law, a 2017 report by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) found that “the Law on the Combatg of Prostutn, and the law agast bchery have been ed liberally to imprison gay men recent years. ” As such, ILGA clus Egypt s list of 72 untri that crimalize, however, said, “It’s not jt gay, bisexual and transgenr people who the thori are after.

RABOW RAIDS: EGYPT LNCH S WIST ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN YET

”“The ernment has targeted sexual and genr mori for heavy-hand reprsn, wh more than 230 lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people prosecuted on ‘bchery’ charg, ” the anizatn Magdi, a rearcher for Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Ai divisn, told NBC News the ternatnal muny should be dog more to protect LGBTQ Egyptians. ”All Out, another human-rights anizatn that has nmned the ernment-sponsored wave of anti-gay persecutn Egypt, said the crackdown is far om over. However, a new report by OutRight Actn Internatnal, a global LGBTQ-rights anizatn, found Egypt to be one of 55 untri the world where LGBTQ-rights groups are not able to legally register, which impes the effectivens of the current polil suatn Europe has also disuraged gay Egyptians, like Omar, om seekg a new — and ls fearful — life the Wt.

Although do not explicly crimalize same-sex relatns, was ed to jtify the arrt and subsequent imprisonment of gay men begng the 1990s and other LGBTQ persons later on.

” In the wake of the Mashrou’ Leila ncert 2017, members of Egypt’s parliament proposed a draft law that would have crimalized acts of homosexualy more explicly, as well as acts of support for the LGBTQ muny; the law was never passed.