Last edited: January 06, 2005


House Members Target Brutal Treatment of Gays in Egypt

Barney Frank, Congressman, 4th District, Massachusetts, March 20, 2002
Washington Office: 2210 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-5931
For Immediate Release
Contact: Daniel McGlinchey—202.225.5931

A bipartisan coalition of federal lawmakers today dispatched a stern letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urging him to reverse his government’s policy of persecution against gay men.

 Last August, a group of members from the U.S. House of Representatives sent an initial letter to President Mubarak expressing concern over the arrest of 52 gay men in Cairo, Egypt. In November, 23 of those men were sentenced to 1-5 years hard labor, and this year, human rights groups report that gay men in Egypt continue to be targeted, prosecuted and sent to prison.

 In January, a letter from Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Fahmy responding to the August congressional letter reached Capitol Hill, delayed in part because of the anthrax threat. In his letter, Ambassador Fahmy denies that the men in Cairo were arrested on the basis on their sexual orientation, claiming instead that they were prosecuted for “contempt of religion” and “public lewdness,” irrespective of sexual orientation.

 In their letter today to Mubarak, 37 House members, including leaders on foreign policy and human rights issues, rejected this explanation, stating in part, “We are encouraged that Ambassador Fahmy in his letter officially denies that the 52 men in Cairo were prosecuted because of their perceived sexual orientation. We say we are encouraged because this denial recognizes that such actions are essentially indefensible . . . Yet when one looks at the record of the trial, it seems to us that sexual orientation was in fact the motivating factor behind these prosecutions.”

 In a separate case, on March 11th, five Egyptian men were sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor for “practicing sexual immorality,” a local euphemism for homosexuality, according to news sources.

 The congressional letter continues, “We very strongly urge you to stop the persecution of men based on their perceived or actual sexual orientation, to release those men who are now in prison, and to uphold the values espoused in your Washington speech where you declare that Egypt’s ‘commitment to a region of peace, of tolerance, free from oppression and injustice remains unshaken.’ Such are the values that will draw you closer to the global community.”

 A copy of the letter is attached. Its signatories include Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), ranking Democrat of the International Relations Committee; Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D- GA), chairwoman and ranking Democrat, respectively, of the International Relations Subcommittee on Human Rights; Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), chairman and ranking Democrat, respectively, of the Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and International Relations; Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Barney Frank (D-MA), senior members of the Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade; and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the Democratic Whip.


March 20, 2002

His Excellency Muhammad Hosni Mubarak
Office of the President
Al Etehadia Building
Heliobolis Cairo, Egypt

Dear President Mubarak:

We were pleased to receive a letter from Ambassador Fahmy which responded to a congressional letter to you last August concerning the arrest of 52 men in Cairo on suspicion of homosexual activity. Because the anthrax threat last fall held up congressional mail, the ambassador’s letter, dated November 6, 2001, did not reach Capitol Hill until last month.

We are encouraged that Ambassador Fahmy in his letter officially denies that the 52 men in Cairo were prosecuted because of their perceived sexual orientation. We say we are encouraged because this denial recognizes that such actions are essentially indefensible, and the ambassador rightly understands that the international community would not accept any justification for the persecution and imprisonment of adults who are doing no harm to others.

Yet when one looks at the record of the trial, it seems to us that sexual orientation was in fact the motivating factor behind these prosecutions. According to partial translations we have received of the verdict, which sentenced 23 of these men to 1-5 years in prison, it makes numerous references to “sexual deviancy,” using a pejorative Arabic term “shudhudh” for homosexuality. Also, much of the evidence offered in court—confessions, medical exams and photographs—seemed intended to demonstrate sexual relations between men.

Moreover, one of the men in Cairo was convicted of “contempt of religion,” which would put your government at odds with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Ambassador Fahmy in his letter confirmed your government’s strong commitment. Article 18 of the ICCPR states in part that “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice. . .” The verdict claims that this man had used religion to cause “confusion between citizens so that they become satisfied with practicing sexual deviancy and consider it normal.”

As you may know, the U.S. State Department released a human rights report this month also condemning these events in Cairo. The report also finds that “torture and abuse of detainees by police, security personnel and prison guards is common” in Egypt. And we are very concerned about specific and consistent reports that gay men have been subjected to beatings and torture while under arrest.

We also wish to express serious concern over recent reports that police in Egypt have entrapped and arrested a number of gay men after luring them on false dates advertised on the Internet. As part of a disturbing trend of intolerance against people who are believed to be gay, these actions contradict the principles you outlined in your recent speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC. In that speech, you eloquently state that “Democracy is foremost a society of institutions, of tolerance, of human rights, of laws that guard them and the freedom of statement that guards us all.”

We very strongly urge you to stop the persecution of men based on their perceived or actual sexual orientation, to release those men who are now in prison, and to uphold the values espoused in your Washington speech where you declare that Egypt’s “commitment to a region of peace, of tolerance, free from oppression and injustice remains unshaken.” Such are the values that will draw you closer to the global community.

REP. TOM LANTOS
REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS  
REP. NITA M. LOWEY
REP. CYNTHIA A. MCKINNEY  
REP. BARNEY FRANK
REP. NANCY PELOSI
REP. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA
REP. DENNIS J. KUCINICH   
REP. MARK FOLEY
REP. MAXINE WATERS   
REP. BARBARA LEE
REP. CARRIE P. MEEK
REP. WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT
REP. LLOYD DOGGETT
REP. TAMMY BALDWIN
REP. ELIOT L. ENGEL
REP. ROBERT WEXLER
REP. JERROLD NADLER   
REP. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
REP. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY
REP. JOSEPH CROWLEY
REP. FRANK PALLONE, JR.
REP. RUSH D. HOLT
REP. MICHAEL R. MCNULTY
REP. JOHN B. LARSON
REP. JAMES P. MCGOVERN  
REP. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD
REP. LUIS V. GUTIERREZ   
REP. LYNN C. WOOLSEY
REP. GEORGE MILLER   
REP. MAURICE D. HINCHEY
REP. LOUISE SLAUGHTER  
REP. NEIL ABERCROMBIE
REP. LYNN N. RIVERS   
REP. JOHN F. TIERNEY
REP. BOB FILNER


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