Last edited: January 04, 2005


Activists Slam Bush Administration During Mubarak Visit

Demand the U.S. Condemn Repression of Homosexuals in Egypt

Al-Fatiha/IGLHRC/Amnesty, March 5, 2002
For Immediate Release

For additional information, contact:
Faisal Alam, Al-Fatiha +1-202-223-3738, gaymuslims@yahoo.com
Sharon Burke, Amnesty International, +1-202-544-0200, sburke@aiusa.org
Sydney Levy, IGLHRC, +1-415-577-8680 (cell), sydney@iglhrc.org

WASHINGTON DC—Gay and human rights activists criticized the Bush Administration today for failing to raise human rights concerns with President Mubarak during his March 4-5 visit to the United States.

“Our President met with the Egyptian President on the very day that the State Department released a devastating report about Egypt’s human rights record,” said Sharon Burke of Amnesty International USA, “And yet the issue apparently never even came up.”

Yesterday, the U.S. State Department released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2001. The report acknowledges the “Cairo 52” case, in which last November an Egyptian State Security Emergency court sentenced 23 allegedly homosexual men to prison terms ranging from one to five years.

“We have documented a growing pattern of arrests and sham trials in Egypt, of people suspected of homosexuality,” stated Scott Long, Program Director at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). “At the same time, the United States government has rewarded Egypt with a multi-billion dollar aid package. How will our government now translate its own human rights report into action?”

Long noted that March 4th was also the opening day of a trial of five allegedly gay men in the provincial city of Damanhour. The five men may face three years imprisonment for alleged consensual homosexual conduct. The Damanhour trial comes after a year marked by brutal arrests, allegations of torture, hard labor sentences and sensationalized trials of suspected homosexuals in Egypt.

“We will be leafleting on March 5th in front of the Ritz Carlton, where President Mubarak will be speaking, in order to highlight the human rights abuses committed by the Egyptian government,” stated Faisal Alam, director of Al-Fatiha, a group of Muslim lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

“President Mubarak needs to know that his policies of persecuting homosexuals will not go unchallenged,” noted Alam.


Information on the leafleting:

WHAT: Leafleting President Mubarak’s luncheon at the Council on Foreign Relations, in order to highlight human rights abuses against presumed homosexuals in Egypt. Copies of the U.S. State Department report on human rights in Egypt as well as other materials documenting the persecution of homosexuals in Egypt will be distributed as well.

WHO: Representatives of Amnesty International and Al-Fatiha.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 5, 10:30 AM—11:30 AM

WHERE: Ritz Carlton Hotel, 1150 22nd Street, NW
(Between L and M), Washington DC

Background Information:

For IGLHRC’s updated action alert, see http://www.iglhrc.org/world/africa/Egypt2002Mar.html

For background information on the US support of Egypt and for detailed information on all known cases of persecution of homosexuals, see http://www.iglhrc.org/news/press/pr_020212.html

For specific information in the Damanhour trials, see http://www.iglhrc.org/news/press/pr_020212.html. The first court hearing on this case took place March 4, where only five of the defendants were present. The case was adjourned until March 11.


Al-Fatiha is an international organization dedicated to Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) and their friends.

IGLHRC is a US-based non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to protect and advance the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status.

Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights. www.amnestyusa.org


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