An openly gay man onts Lebanon's Mashrou' Leila – and when fans waved rabow flags at a show outsi Cairo, the arrts soon followed
Contents:
- ARRTS AND TORTURE OF GAYS, LBIANS EGYPT ARE ‘SYSTEMATIC,’ RIGHTS REPORT SAYS
- 'YOU N'T BE OUT': GAY EGYPTIANS NTUE TO FEAR PERSECUTN
- EGYPT'S LATT CRACKDOWN ON GAYS CREAT FEAR LGBT MUNY
- BTAL CRACKDOWN HAS GAY AND TRANSGENR EGYPTIANS ASKG: IS TIME TO LEAVE?
ARRTS AND TORTURE OF GAYS, LBIANS EGYPT ARE ‘SYSTEMATIC,’ RIGHTS REPORT SAYS
Egyptian police and Natnal Secury Agency officers arbrarily arrt lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people and ta them human ndns, systematilly subject them to ill-treatment cludg torture, and often ce fellow mat to abe them. * egypt lgbt crackdown *
SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Last September, at a mic ftival Cairo, a group of ncertgoers raised a rabow flag support of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr rights. CAIRO — The Egyptian ernment ntu to target gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people a "systematic fashn" through arbrary arrts, torture and other forms of abe, cludg forced "virgy tts, " Human Rights Watch said watchdog group acced police personnel and officers of Egypt’s Natnal Secury Agency of routely pickg up spected LGBT people off the streets and tag them “human ndns, ” often after illegally searchg their phon. Egyptian secury forc taed Hegazi 2017 after she raised a rabow pri flag at a ncert Cairo by the Lebane band Mashrou’ Leila, whose lead sger is openly gay.
While homosexualy is not illegal Egypt, thori have been g a 1960s anti-prostutn law that ntas a clse agast “bchery, ” which Egyptian urts have terpreted to clu the weeks followg the 2017 Mashrou’ Leila ncert, thori arrted sr of LGBT people and hand out harsh prison sentenc, promptg the U. (Beit) – Egyptian police and Natnal Secury Agency officers arbrarily arrt lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people and ta them human ndns, systematilly subject them to ill-treatment cludg torture, and often ce fellow mat to abe them, Human Rights Watch said today. Human rights groups have documented wi-sle ab the wake of a September 2017 ncert by the Lebane band Mashrou’ Leila, whose lead sger is openly gay and which performs songs that support sexual and genr diversy.
I was taed a ge unr a stairway [at the prosecutor’s office], wasn’t even a prison cell, [but merely] a 3 by 2-meters ty room, wh 25 gay and transgenr people. — Hham Alkashif (@HhamAlkashif) September 23, 2017Sce the ary took ntrol 2013, has not been unmon for Egyptian thori to arrt people they spect have engaged nsensual homosexual activi, acrdg to the New York Tim. Bee homosexualy is not illegal Egypt, as is neighborg Libya, gay Egyptians are often charged wh “bchery, ” “immoraly, ” or “blasphemy” stead, the BBC om Getty ImagOf the 33 people arrted, jt one is a woman, and 22 were arrted over the last 4 days, acrdg to Amnty Internatnal.
'YOU N'T BE OUT': GAY EGYPTIANS NTUE TO FEAR PERSECUTN
Egypt's anti-gay crackdown ma headl last September, but one year later, human-rights advot and LGBTQ Egyptians say the persecutn ntu. * egypt lgbt crackdown *
Lol media reports that the charged men have been eed on bail of 5, 000 Egyptian pounds (£211) and an appeal is nvictns e durg a renewed state attack on LGBT eedoms sparked by a 22 September Mashrou' Leilia ncert which the rabow gay pri flag was raised by an dience member. Show all 2Men taed unr such circumstanc are often subject to anal examatns to terme whether they have had gay sex, which rights groups such as Human Rights Watch say are agast human rights law and amount to torture. While there are no specific laws agast homosexualy Egypt, discrimatn agast dividuals perceived to be LGBT is rife, as are arrts on bchery and immoraly charg.
(Nairobi, September 30, 2017)—Egypt should stop arrtg and harassg people spected of homosexualy g tmped-up “bchery” and “cg bchery” charg, Human Rights Watch said today.
EGYPT'S LATT CRACKDOWN ON GAYS CREAT FEAR LGBT MUNY
* egypt lgbt crackdown *
Secury forc round up at least eleven people the days followg a September 22, 2017 ncert Cairo at which young ncertgoers waved rabow flags, a symbol of solidary wh lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (LGBT) people, a fiant act a untry known to persecute gay men and transgenr people. At the September 22 ncert, people raised rabow flags durg the performance of the Lebane group Mashrou’ Leila, which has an openly gay lead sger and has performed songs addrsg same-sex relatnships and genr inty.
In Egypt, police routely round up gay and bisexual men and transgenr women, actively seekg them out and entrappg them on datg apps and through social media. The archaic technique was vised the 19th century to seek “evince” of homosexual nduct, but forensic experts around the world have nmned the practice as lackg any scientific validy and vlatg medil ethics. Members of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny Egypt are livg fear followg a wave of arrts and groups say dozens of people have been taed the crackdown, which began after rabow flags were waved at a rock ncert on the outskirts of Cairo last month, promptg a fur reactn the Egyptian current spike arrts is part of an ongog climate of reprsn agast the LGBT muny Egypt.
Homosexualy is not illegal unr Egyptian law, but homosexual acts public are illegal, and members of the LGBT muny are often arrted on phemistic charg, such as “bchery”.
BTAL CRACKDOWN HAS GAY AND TRANSGENR EGYPTIANS ASKG: IS TIME TO LEAVE?
It appears to have been triggered by a performance by the Lebane band Mashrou’ Leila on 22 September, where several ncertgoers raised rabow flags support of the group’s lead sger, Hamed Sno, one of the very few openly gay performers the Middle East. “Homosexualy is a crime that’s as terrible as terrorism, ” proclaimed a prime-time TV host, Ahmed al-Balasy, a poet, was ejected om the set of al-Mehwar TV after beg one of the few to publicly fend LGBT people. “That’s more than we knew of durg the Mubarak-era mpaign, ” he said, referrg to Sisi’s precsor, Hosni Mubarak, unr whose le the arrt of 52 men a gay nightclub 2001 had prevly been the largt crackdown on the LGBT ’s Supreme Council for Media Regulatn later issued a statement banng any discsn of LGBT issu the media, apart om where the person “shows repentance”, and referred to homosexualy as “a shameful disease” untry’s parliament is now batg crimalisg homosexualy, wh a punishment of up to 15 years prison.
“The ernment wants to w the support of nservative sectns of society, to say that Sisi isn’t allowg homosexuals to n ee, ” said Abl-Rahman, addg that the ernment was benefg om the uproar about LGBT rights orr to distract the public om social and enomic problems.
Image source, Facebook/Rabow EgyptImage ptn, The crackdown was lnched after rabow flags were raised at a ncert SeptemberSixteen men arrted last month durg a crackdown on homosexualy by the thori Egypt have been sentenced to three years prison. Instead, the thori have relied on a 1961 prostutn law to charge people spected of engagg nsensual homosexual nduct wh "habual bchery" bill f "homosexualy" for the first time and sets penalti of up to five years imprisonment. But someone nvicted on multiple charg unr different provisns of the law uld face up to 15 years public promotn or advertisg of any lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (LGBT) gathergs or parti would also be punished by up to three years prison, as would the display, promotn, sale or marketg of LGBT bill also clus a clse that licens the thori to publicly "shame" dividuals nvicted of a related offence by publishg their nam and sentenc natnal newspapers.