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MEPs TABLE DEBATE IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ON EGYPT'S GAY WITCH-HUNT. Posted 20 March 2003: The following message was received today from Ottavio Marzocchi, an official from Italy's Radical Party. It indicates that over 35 MEPs from the Radical, Green, Liberal, Socialist and Communist Parties have responded to the harsher sentences handed down by a Cairo court last Saturday by tabling a debate. The inititiave was organized by Marco Cappato and Maurizio Turco, two MEPs from Italy's Radical Party. It is not clear yet when and indeed how likely it is that the debate will actually proceed. The text of the parliamentary question is: An administrative Court in Cairo (Egypt) has sentenced on the 15th of March 2003 21 persons to 3 years emprisonment and forced labour, while 29 have been acquitted in the framework of the so-called "Queen Boat" trial. The sentences have been in overall harsher than those issued by an Egyptian State Security Court in November 2001, later annulled by the Egyptian President Mubarak: the sentences of those who had originally been convicted were extended on appeal to three years, the maximum sentence allowed under Egyptian law. The EP had repeatedly condemned the persecution of homosexuals in Egypt, and had asked the Commission and the Council to activate all diplomatic channels and measures to express EU concern. Having regard of the abovementioned grave developments, what measures will the Commission/the Council take ? Will the Commission/the Council implement progressive measures to condemn the repeated and serious violation of fundamental human rights of Egyptian citizens and avoid that such events happen in the future? Doesn't the Commission/the Council think that it is necessary and urgent to freeze the implementation of the EU-Egypt Association Agreement until this persecution against homosexual stops? The list of signatories is: * Radicali (NI): Turco, Cappato, Della Vedova, Dell'Alba, Pannella, Dupuis; * Socialisti: Paciotti, Cerdeira, Cashman, Van Den Burg, Volcic, Swiebel, Sousa Pinto, Vattimo, Ruffolo, Ghilardotti, Mendiluce, Casaca, Lund; * Verdi: Lucas, Lipietz, Lambert, Boumediene, Buitenweg, Patsy Sorensen, Dahene, Messner, Hautala; * Liberali: Ludford, Davies, Boogerd, Vallvé, Ries, Duff; * Comunisti: Ilka Schröder, Krivine, Di Lello, Krarup. NO A REPRESSIONE. TWO ITALIAN MEPS HOPE TO FREEZE IMPLIMENTATION OF THE EU-EGYPT ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT. UNTIL THE PERSECUTION OF EGYPT'S GAY COMMUNITY STOPS. Posted 18 March 2003 Two MEPs, Marco Cappato and Maurizio Turco from the Radical Party along with fellow sympathetic MEPS are hoping to table a debate in the European Parliament over the escalating gay witch-hunt in Egypt and the recent verdict extending the sentence for 21 defendants in the so-called Queen Boat case - see further below. They already have 23 of the 32 names they need to call for a debate and they hope to achieve this minimum requirement as early as tomorrow [ Wednesday 19 March. ] Here is an email from an official - Dear friends from gayegypt.com, Marco Cappato and Maurizio Turco (MEPs of the Radical Party) are the first signatories of the following question to the EU institutions. We are now collecting the signatures of other MEPs (if we get 32 there shall be a debate and resolution of the EP). We have now 23 and I am quite sure to reach 32 by tomorrow. Cross fingers that this can help in the view of the appeals! [ re official source - awaiting permission to attribute. ] Question to the EU Council and Commission: Persecution of homosexuals in Egypt An administrative Court in Cairo (Egypt) has sentenced on the 15th of March 2003 21 persons to 3 years emprisonment and forced labour, while 29 have been acquitted in the framework of the so-called "Queen Boat" trial. The sentences have been in overall harsher than those issued by an Egyptian State Security Court in November 2001, later annulled by the Egyptian President Mubarak: the sentences of those who had originally been convicted were extended on appeal to three years, the maximum sentence allowed under Egyptian law. The EP had repeatedly condemned the persecution of homosexuals in Egypt, and had asked the Commission and the Council to activate all diplomatic channels and measures to express EU concern. Having regard of the abovementioned grave developments, what measures will the Commission/the Council take ? Will the Commission/the Council implement progressive measures to condemn the repeated and serious violation of fundamental human rights of Egyptian citizens and avoid that such events happen in the future? Doesn't the Commission/the Council think that it is necessary and urgent to freeze the implementation of the EU-Egypt Association Agreement until this persecution against homosexual stops?" New Queen Boat Penalties Even Harsher Than The First Trial. Fifteen New Arrests in Giza Al Fatiha Foundation Calls For Worldwide Day Of Action. Posted 15 March 2003 The worst fear of the defendants in the long drawn out "Queen Boat" case were exceeded today when the sentences of those who had originally been convicted were extended on appeal to three years, the maximum sentence allowed under Egyptian law. There had been hopes by the more optimistic in Egypt's gay community, that the court would recognize both international pressure and the grossly unfair procedural irregularities of the initial trial by overturning most, if not all, of the guilty verdicts. The original court verdict in November 2001 had sentenced twenty of the current appellants to two years and one to just a year. [ To view GayEgypt.com original report on that verdict please click here. ] Ahmad Saif al-Islam Hamad, director of the Hisham Mubarak Centre for Justice and one of the defence lawyers, told Agence France Presse that the majority of the defendants had been convicted without proof and that the Judge had passed this latest verdict without hearing the defence case. He added that the defence had expected to question a key police officer involved in the arrests but that when he failed to turn up the Judge went ahead with his verdict, despite the officer's absence. This time twenty one defendants, originally sentenced to between one and two years, received three year sentences. The only positive spin that can be placed on this depressing news is that the defendants will be allowed to appeal but at the moment their chances of success seem to be about as slim as the prayers in Mosques worldwide for peace. The Al Fatiha Foundation, a US-based organization dedicated to Muslims who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, has called for a worldwide day of action on 11 May, the second anniversary of the police raid on the Queen Boat. It hopes to join forces with other gay groups to stage protests in cities across the world. Faisal Alam, the group's founder, noted that Egypt was the second largest recipient of U.S. aid and that a significant part of that was channeled into Egypt's internet infrastructure which the very same government was using to entrap and imprison gay men. To read the Al Fatiha press release please click here. We understand that Al Gomhuria apparently carried a report on Saturday 15 March of fifteen new arrests of men for alleged "sexual perversion" in Giza. This, together with the wave of new arrests last month, suggests strongly that Mubrak is now mounting a vigorous anti-gay witch-hunt. On 16 March Al Wafd, Al Gomhuria and Al Wafd all carried reports of the appeal verdict [ To read them in arabic please click here. ] but, as usual, we failed to find any mention of Egypt's gay crackdown in Al Ahram International which is read widely overseas. It is possible we have been overlooking the ocassional article but we suspect it more probably reflects the determination of Egyptian authorities to stress it's conservative stance to its' internal audience while minimizing the damage the crackdown will inevitably cause to the country's relations with Europe and America. Perhaps this is why an increasing number of gay Egyptians and other gay Arabs are turning to the internet. GayEgypt.com is now obtaining around 80,000 visitors a month and Al Fatiha, the U.S. based organization to support gay muslims, is also attracting a huge following. WE SAY DON'T BOYCOTT EGYPT ! It might sound like we are giving in to oppression but nevertheless we want to stress that boycotting Egypt won't improve the gay rights situation in Egypt. If a boycott campaign is undertaken Mubarak will earn credit from the Islamic Opposition not just for daring to withstand international criticism, but also for ridding Egypt of gay tourists. A boycott of EgyptAir might help or a boycott of some of the big international hotels, especially those with links to the Mubarak family. We need to hit the pockets of the rich and powerful and especially the government, while minimizing any harm to ordinary Egyptians. By avoiding big hotels and staying in small local guest houses you can do just that and save money ! BUT TOURISTS PLEASE WEAR RED ! Also please wear red when you visit Egypt as a sign of solidarity with Egypt's repressed gay community [ see our red is the colour section click here. ] Since the start of the year small groups of Egyptians have started to wear red as a sign of solidarity with the growing number of gay men arrested. News of this reached us in February as Egypt witnessed a new wave of arrests and convictions. [ To read our report on this new clampdown please click here. ] The risk of serious consequences for any tourist for wearing red clothes would be minimal, but it would be a blatant signal that tourists are on the side of the oppressed and not Mubarak. It would also make the strength of pro-gay feeling outrageously visible. It would be the exact reverse of what Mubarak wants. He wants gays to boycott Egypt. Don't. Go there and make love. But take care not to get caught ! Some visitors from other Middle East countries have been arrested recently and even though we don't know of any European, Russian, Japanese or American tourists imprisoned for gay sex, it could soon happen. Amnesty International Warns Mubarak as Fear Mounts of Unfavourable Court Decision [ Posted 13 March 2003. ] Gays Likely To Become New Enemy as Al Azhar Calls For Jihad To "Defend Faith". [ Posted 11 March 2003. ] To read the news for February including all the news regarding the recent wave of arrests please click here. This Saturday up to fifty men will stand before Qasr Al-Nil Crimminal Court in downtown Cairo to hear the long awaited verdict of an appeal hearing on charges of sexual peversion. Most of them have endured torture, all have been exposed to public shame in the press - their names and places of work published alongside contrived allegations of devilworship - and all have already endured lengthy hard labour prison sentences. Few in Egypt's gay community are optimistic about the outcome of the court's verdict on Saturday. Many expect the court to delay its' decision a week so that any negative outcome will coincide with the outbreak of war in the Gulf. Most fear that either this week or next the Court will uphold the original verdict with perhaps token criticism of police procedures. You may remember that the Police even claimed their evidence included surveillance of addresses that turned out not to exist. A few dare to hope that the court may finally free the men. But even if such optimistic expectations are met there will be no party atmosphere. This is because in February the Egyptian Government intensified its campaign of repression against gay men [ For our reports please click here. ] with dozens of new arrests and convictions published in the press. And as always, the number of press reported cases represents only a tiny fraction of the whole picture. Up and down the country from Aswan to Alexandria gay men are arrested on a daily basis. We know this both from our experience inside Egypt and also from the reports we receive from contributors. The one glimmer of hope is that despite attention being focused on Iraq, the last twenty four hours has seen mounting international criticism of Egypt's government. First, yesterday [12 March] from United States Congressman Barney Frank in an open letter to President Mubarak and today [13 March] by a damning press release by Amnesty International. Expressing a reality only too well known by Egyptians themselves, but never publicly admitted, the Amnesty report declares that gay men "face a heightened risk of torture or ill-treatment in police stations and prisons." It calls on the Egyptian Government to "release immediately and unconditionally anyone imprisoned solely for their actual or perceived sexual orientation." Yesterday, in what must have come as a shock to an Egyptian president growing lazily more confident of the "American blind eye" to his own regime's use of torture and intimidation, Democrat congressman Barney Frank also voiced his anger at the increasing number of gay men arrested, detained and tortured in Egypt. The letter also contained an unexpected sting in the tail. A threat to use the power of Congress and also Congressional committees to cut crucial American aid to Egypt at a time when Mubarak was beginning to expect continued support as a forgone conclusion. In particular Barney Frank threatened to cut high tech U.S. support in the development of Egypt's rapidly expanding internet services threatening Mubarak's dream of making Egypt the internet hub of the Middle East. With the exception of some Arabian countries and possibly Lebanon, Egypt clearly leads the rest of the Arab world in this field. But unqualified U.S. aid has also come at a heavy price. The continued use of widespread intimidation and torture in which the internet itself has become a honey trap for many Egyptian gay men. Please find below a copy of the Amnesty Internation Press Release [ to view the original on the Amnesty site please click here. ] and beneath that a copy of the letter by U.S. congressman Barney Frank. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE AI Index: MDE 12/009/2003 (Public) News Service No: 057 13 March 2003 Embargo Date: 13 March 2003 00:01 GMT Egypt: free those imprisoned for their sexual orientation The verdict in the retrial of 50 men, tried for their alleged sexual orientation, is expected on 15 March before a criminal court in the Qasr al-Nil district of Cairo. The trial takes place amid a continued clampdown by the Egyptian authorities on men on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. Amnesty International is extremely concerned that the imprisonment of people solely for their actual or perceived sexual orientation constitutes a violation of the right to freedom from discrimination as guaranteed in international human rights treaties. "The Egyptian authorities must release immediately and unconditionally anyone imprisoned solely for their actual or perceived sexual orientation," Amnesty International said. The initial trial, which came to be known as the 'Queen Boat case', opened in 2001. Following their sentencing, Amnesty International adopted those sentenced solely for their actual or perceived sexual orientation as prisoners of conscience and campaigned for their immediate and unconditional release. Several of the men alleged that they were subjected to torture or ill-treatment, including beatings with a stick on the soles of the feet (falaka), during the first stages of their detention. Gays - or those perceived to be gay - face a heightened risk of torture or ill-treatment in police stations and prisons in Egypt. Shortly after his arrest, one of the 50 men informed the prosecutor that he had been subjected to torture in detention and showed him the resulting marks on his body. The prosecutor noted "red vertical lines on the middle of the back...which the accused alleged were the result of beating with a thin stick...". However, no investigations are known to have been conducted into their allegations. During the examination of Egypt's report to the UN Committee for Human Rights, in October 2002, the Egyptian delegation stated that in Egypt "homosexuality was not a criminal offence in itself". However, ongoing trials and imprisonment of people solely for their actual or perceived sexual orientation demonstrate that charges of "habitual debauchery" continue to be used to criminalize consensual homosexual relations in private. Over the past year, there have been several cases of alleged gays who have been detained and tried after having agreed to meet people contacted over the internet who turned out to be security officers or police informants. On 17 February 2003 a court of appeals in Cairo upheld a sentence of 15-months' imprisonment of prisoner of conscience Wissam Tawfiq Abyad, a 26-year-old Lebanese national, for his alleged sexual orientation. On 16 January 2003 Wissam Tawfiq Abyad went to meet a contact he had made on an Internet website for homosexuals. The person he met, in the Heliopolis district of Cairo, is believed to be a security officer or police informant. Wissam Tawfiq Abyad was detained and charged with 'habitual debauchery'. Electronic conversations which they had exchanged over the Internet in private were used as evidence against him. In another instance, prisoner of conscience Zaki Sayid Zaki 'Abd al-Malak was detained in similar circumstances on 25 January 2002 in Cairo. On 7 February 2002 he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for 'habitual debauchery' by the Agouza Criminal Court in Cairo and the verdict was upheld on 31 March 2002. He was reportedly ill-treated in detention. Background In May 2001 some 60 men were arrested in Cairo, the majority of them while at a night club on a boat known as the Queen Boat. In June 2001, 52 of them were referred by presidential decree to the Emergency State Security Court for Misdemeanours in Cairo, an exceptional court established under emergency legislation. In November the court sentenced 23 men to prison terms of between one and five years. Twenty-one were convicted of 'habitual debauchery', one of 'contempt of religion' and another on both charges. (see Amnesty International: Egypt: Torture and imprisonment for actual or perceived sexual orientation, December 2001 - [AI Index: MDE 12/033/2001]). In May 2002 President Mubarak annulled the verdict of 50 of the 52 men tried in 2001 in connection with their alleged sexual orientation and as a consequence 21 prisoners of conscience were released. However, he upheld prison terms imposed on two men in the same case. A retrial of the 50 other men opened in July 2002 before a criminal court in the Qasr al-Nil district of Cairo. The Egyptian judiciary has on many occasions applied the term 'habitual debauchery' to same sex relations in the context of consensual sexual relations between men in private. Charges of 'habitual debauchery' are based on Law 10 of 1961 on the Combat of Prostitution. Different UN human rights bodies have expressed their concerns regarding the treatment of men on the grounds of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. For example, in November 2002 the UN Committee for Human Rights issued several recommendations after having examined Egypt's periodic report of its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including that Egypt should 'refrain from sanctioning private sexual relations between consenting adults'. Public Document **************************************** For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org **************************************** Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) Letter to President Hosni Mubarak March 12, 2003 His Excellency Muhammad Hosni Mubarak Office of the President Al Etehadia Building Heliopolis Cairo, Egypt Dear President Mubarak: I write concerning recent, disturbing reports about the continued entrapment, arrest and conviction of gay men in Egypt solely for engaging in private, consensual sexual relations. One specific case involves a man named Wissam Toufic Abyad who was arrested earlier this year in Cairo after being lured to a meeting by a police officer posing as a gay man over the Internet. I had been encouraged in the past when the appeals courts had overturned such cases, and I'm very concerned that a recent appeal of Mr. Abyad's case was not favorable. I hope that any future court decisions will not act against Mr. Abyad or others like him who have been sought out by the police and imprisoned. As you know, last year many of my colleagues in the House of Representatives joined a number of efforts speaking out against the persecution of gay men in Egypt. And the recent omnibus spending bill that passed Congress - which, among other things, included $200 million of aid to Egypt -- also included report language expressing concern about the human rights situation in Egypt, specifically citing restrictions on freedom of expression and impediments to the development of democracy and the rule of law. I also understand that the United States Agency for International Development is helping to fund projects in Egypt for the development of Internet infrastructure, including web development, information technology, and computer equipment, and I should tell you that if gay men continue to be entrapped and imprisoned through the use of the Internet and in other ways, this may undermine congressional support for this and other kinds of international aid. I sincerely hope that your government will take steps to halt this harsh campaign against the consensual private sexual relations of individuals who are doing no harm to others. BARNEY FRANK *********************************************** Gays Likely To Become New Enemy as Al Azhar Calls For Jihad To "Defend Faith" If Iraq Is Attacked. Posted 11 March 2003. Yesterday, one of the most powerful insitutions in the Sunni Muslim World, the Islamic Research Academy at Cairo's Al Azhar University, called for a Jihad if the United States goes to war on Iraq. The statement signed by the academy's secretary-general, Al Sayyed Wafa Abu Aggour, called on muslims worldwide to launch a jihad or holy struggle to counter what they claimed was a new crusade launched by the West against muslim nations. They added that this was not a call to arms but for a "legitimate struggle" to defend their faith, both spiritually and politically, from "outside attack". The fear is that gays in Egypt and other Islamic nations may become the innocent victims of any such backlash. Next saturday a court in Cairo is set to rule on the fate of the so called "Queen Boat suspects", arrested in May 2001 in a raid on a night club of the same name. The political backdrop is not promising. Egypt's president Mubarak is seriously worried not just about the impact of any war on the deteriorating economic situation in the country, but also of the real possibility that his regime might collapse. Economic and political discontent are combining to create what Islamic fundamentalists will welcome as "the perfect storm." An insurmountable vortex of protest which could bring down his government. Yet despite the mounting protests against the seemingly inevitable war, he daren't strike out at America; or even do anything except making vague complaints. Many now consider that his decision to allow US naval vessels pass through Suez makes him no more than the doormat of the American military. He is certainly no Nasser, nor does he seem to have the courage to reform or to influence the West which Sadat had. Instead his corrupt and inept regime has become a mere but of derision and discontent, hated by liberals and fundamentalists alike. However he knows that he can win back support by finally appearing to walk tall and appear the strong man. But not by opposing America. Instead, he almost certainly intends to take a much harder line against Egypt's gay community and this is unlikely to be welcome news to the fifty men who will stand before a Cairo appeals court on charges of perversion this Saturday. Even if due to international protests these men are released, and this chance now seems slim, such an outcome is likely just to be a diversion, since it seems almost certain that the real campaign of repression has only just begun. To Read the news for February including all the news regarding the recent wave of arrests please click here. |
