Egypt
President wants retrial for 50 Egyptian gays

afrol News, 23 May - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reportedly has ordered a retrial before an ordinary court of 50 of the so-called "Cairo 52" defendants, who had appeared for an emergency court last year, accused of being gay. The retrial is to include the 29 men acquitted in November last year.

The Egyptian presidency presented the decision as a concession to those international groups that had protested the original trial of the "Cairo 52". The 50 men should be retried before an ordinary court rather than an Emergency State Security Court, because they were charged only with "habitual practice of debauchery." The President appears to admit that this charge does not, under Egyptian law, justify a trial before a Security Court - a procedure designed for "terrorists" and threats to the State. 

Defenders of gay rights were however outraged by the decision. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) today stated it had "responded with shock" to the fact that the 29 acquitted must now undergo a new trial. 

- If true, this is Egypt's last-ditch effort to clean up its image before the international community, stated Scott Long of the IGLHRC. "But dragging the convicted men into the humiliation of a new trial - while placing 29 acquitted men under the renewed threat of imprisonment - can only sully that image further." 

President Mubarak further had confirmed the hard labour sentences of two of the 23 convicted men, who were found guilty of "contempt for religion" under Article 98f of the Penal Code. The President thus continued to affirm the validity of the Emergency State Security Courts, which have been widely condemned by human rights activists because they permit no ordinary appeal.

- All 23 convicted men should be pardoned and released immediately, said the IGLHRC's Long. "They already endured one sham trial. To inflict another only redoubles the abuse." Last year's trial had indeed been a heavy burden to the accused.

The 52 were arrested on or around the night of 10-11 May 2001. That night, police raided the Queen Boat discotheque in Cairo; other police pickups followed in the next days. The 52 were allegedly tortured and jailed until their trial. Defence lawyers argued that proper arrest procedures were not followed, that the arrests were made at random, and that charges were fabricated by ambitious vice squad officers. The State-controlled media engaged in a campaign of vilification against the 52, publishing their names and branding them perverts, blasphemers, and traitors. 

All 52 pleaded innocent. Twenty-one defendants were convicted of "habitual practice of debauchery" under Article 9(c) of Law 10/1961 (on the Combat of Prostitution). One defendant was convicted of "contempt for religion" under Article 98f of the Penal Code. Another defendant, accused of being the "ringleader," was convicted of both charges and received the heaviest sentence, five years at hard labour. 

- Since November, Egypt has sentenced many other men for homosexual conduct, in other trials, said Long - "and the arrests continue. The President's reported action does nothing for other victims still in prison." 

In a similar case, the Egyptian political dissident Saad Eddin Ibrahim, jailed for exercising his freedom of expression, was recently released and offered a new trial. Many activists fear the respite will end in his renewed imprisonment. "These cosmetic gestures mean nothing," said Long. "Egypt isn't offering freedom, merely loosening the leash." 

Egypt's persecution of suspected homosexuals has been condemned by international human rights organisations, members of the US Congress, and mechanisms of the United Nations. 

The international outrage against the attacks on homosexuals in Egypt has not been mirrored in Egypt. On the contrary, the Egyptian press has been scandalised by the alleged behaviour of the accused and has campaigned strongly against them. National human rights groups have not dared to defend these alleged gays, noting that the general outrage against gays in Egypt would subvert their credibility in addressing other pressing human rights violations.

Interestingly, homosexual practice is documented to be an institutionalised part of Egyptian human relations in pre-Islamic and throughout Islamic times, although being the "passive" part in sexual intercourse generally is plastered with taboos unless the individual is an adolescent. The "active" part is in no way perceived as homosexual and young boys - if they do not continue to be "passive" in adult life - neither are considered homosexuals. 

Continuing to be "passive" in adult life - or even assuming a Western "gay" identity, a stated preference of same-sex relationship - is profoundly rejected in Egyptian society. The introduction of a Western "gay" identity and the emerging Cairo "gay scene" seems to be the background for the sudden criminal prosecution of homosexuals in Egypt initiated last year.

Sources: Based on IGLHRC and afrol archives

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