Egypt Sentences 5 More Suspected Gays
Gay.com /
PlanetOut.com Network, March 11, 2002
SUMMARY: An Egyptian court sentenced five suspected gay men on Monday to
three years in prison with hard labor.
An Egyptian court sentenced five suspected gay men on Monday to three years
in prison with hard labor, continuing a punitive trend that has alarmed human
rights advocates around the world.
A spokesman from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
(IGLHRC) reported that Monday’s court proceedings took approximately 15
minutes.
"This trial—if it can even be called that—is simply another
farce," said Scott Long, program director for IGLHRC. "The
defendants have been subjected to brutal torture through beatings and
electroshock in the two months since their detention. We call for their
immediate release."
The men pleaded guilty to debauchery and running a house for gay sex
parties, according to the Associated Press. An appeal hearing has been set for
April 13. The men’s names were not revealed.
The men were arrested in January in Damanhur after police reportedly raided
a home and found the men in various sexual positions.
Human rights and gay rights groups have regularly criticized Egypt’s
crackdown on suspected homosexuals since the sentencing last November of 23
men to harsh prison sentences. The men were part of a group of 52 men who were
arrested last May in a floating nightclub.
Last week activists in Washington, D.C., protested outside a meeting
between U.S. President George W. Bush and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
because the two leaders have not publicly addressed the human rights abuses.
Egypt’s penal code does not outlaw homosexuality, but laws against
obscenity, debauchery and prostitution have been used to justify gay-related
convictions.
[Home] [World] [Egypt]
