Last edited: January 25, 2005


Call for Appeals to Egypt over Gay Entrapment

365Gay.com, April 10, 2003

By Jon ben Asher, European Bureau Chief

London—Amnesty International has issued an urgent global appeal on behalf of a 26-year-old man who has been imprisoned in Egypt after arranging to meet a man through a popular gay website.

Wassim Tawfiq Abyad was convicted of "habitual debauchery" and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after replying to a personals ad on the UK based website and setting up a meeting the man who had placed the ad.  It is believed the man was a police informant. Email and webchat conversations exchanged between the two men on were used as evidence against Wissam in court.

Amnesty International said Thursday it is very concerned that the Egyptian authorities are pursuing a policy of internet entrapment to persecute gay men.

Nora Cranston, Amnesty International campaigner for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, said: "It's shocking that a man has been locked up in Egypt for exactly the same kind of private communication taken for granted by 1,000s of men in the UK."

Cranston is calling for a massive letter writing campaign protesting the use of entrapment to the Egyptian government.

"The Egyptian government must receive a clear message from people all over the world that persecution of people for their sexual orientation is unacceptable, and that internet entrapment is a clear violation of fundamental human rights," Cranston said.

There have been several cases of men being arrested and charged after arranging to meet people they first contacted on the internet.

Although Egypt has repeatedly declared to the UN that "homosexuality is not a criminal offence in itself," Egyptian authorities are engaged in a  policy of arresting and imprisoning men on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.

More than 50 men were prosecuted for "habitual debauchery" and imprisoned for up to five years after being arrested at the 'Queen Boat' night-club in May 2001.


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