Teenager Sentenced in Cairo Case, New Evidence of Torture
Repression Must Stop Now!
Emergency Response Network
The International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), September 21, 2001
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10018
Tel. 212.216.1814; Fax 212.216.1876
Scott Long, Program Director, Email scott@iglhrc.org
—————— Summary ——————
On September 18 in Cairo, an adolescent male was sentenced to three years
in juvenile prison for "indecency and debauchery." He stood accused
of practicing homosexuality; he had confessed under police interrogation, a
confession he claimed was extracted under torture. A witness said the youth
"screamed and sobbed as the verdict was read." The State-controlled
press reprinted the boy’s picture in stories about his conviction, and
vilified his "perversion." He had been arrested along with 52 other
men in an ongoing crackdown on homosexuality by the Egyptian government.
This sentence was the first handed down in the case. The trial of the other
52 continues. On the day after the adolescent was sentenced, a session of the
larger trial reopened in a Cairo courtroom. Defendants wept as they tried to
tell families and friends stories of their ill-treatment in detention. Some of
the imprisoned men have been able to recount explicit details of torture
through the wires of the courtroom cage. The court will resume hearing the
case on October 3.
IGLHRC calls for URGENT renewed letters to the Egyptian government,
expressing outrage at the continuing perversion of justice. Protest the
sentence handed down on September 18; demand an end to the ongoing trial, a
pardon for the imprisoned adolescent, and an immediate release of all men
detained in the case.
—————— Action ——————
IGLHRC asks for letters to the Egyptian government, condemning the
draconian sentence handed down on September 18, and the continuing trial of
the other arrested men. ( A sample letter can be found in the following
section.) Please write to:
His Excellency, President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt ‘Abedine Palace
Cairo, Egypt
Tel: + 20 2 910288 / 243 1915 /245 9816
Fax: + 20 2 390 1998, 20 2 260-5417 , 20 2 355-5700, 20 2 795 3192 or 20 2 795
8016
TELEX 091 93794 wazra un Email: webmaster@presidency.gov.eg
Salutation: Your excellency
His Excellency, Counsellor Farouk Seif Al Nasr
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Midan Lazoughly
Cairo Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax: +20 2 355 8103
Email: mojeb@idsc1.gov.eg
Salutation: Your Excellency
Mr Ahmed Maher Al-Sayad
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Corniche al-Nil Maspiro
Cairo EGYPT
Fax: +20 2 574 9533
Email: minexter@idscl.gov.eg or ForMin@idsc.gov.eg
Salutation: Your Excellency
Counsellor Maher ‘Abd al-Wahid Public Prosecutor Dar al-Qadha al-’Ali
Ramses Street Cairo, Egypt Fax: + 20 2 577 47 16 Salutation: Dear Public
Prosecutor
Please also write to Egypt’s Embassies abroad. If your country is not in
the list below, go to http://www.mfa.gov.eg/missions_a.asp?id=0505
to find contact information.
AUSTRALIA Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt 1 Darwin Avenue Yarralumla
Canberra, ACT 2600 Tel: (62) 273-4437/8 Fax: (612)62734279 TELEX AA 62497
Boustan
BRAZIL Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt Setor Embaixada Norte Av. das
Naceos Lote 12 Brasilia - DF 70435 -900 Tel.: (5561) 323 8800 Fax: (5561) 323
1039 TELEX 611387 E-mail: embegypt@tba.com.br
CANADA
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
454 Laurier Avenue East Ottawa, Ontario KIN 6R3
Tel: (613) 234-4931 / 35/58 Fax: (613)2349347
E-mail: egyptemb@sympatico.ca
FRANCE
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
56 Avenue d’Iena Paris 75116
Tel: (33) (1) 47 20 97 70 / 47 20 75 97 Fax: (33) (1) 47230643 TELEX 645297
E-mail: egypt_embassy_paris@hotmail.com
GERMANY
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Waldstrasse 15 Berlin, 13156
Tel.: (4930)4771048 - 4771250 Fax: (4930)4771049 TELEX 307997 EGYPT D
Email: Egembassy@hotmail.com
INDIA
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt 1/50 M, Niti Marg, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi- 110021
Tel.: (9111) 6114096- 6114097 Fax: (9111) 6885355 TELEX 31 72245 EGND IN
Email: egyembindia@vsnl.com
SOUTH AFRICA
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
270 Bourke Street, Muckleneuk PO Box 30025 Sunnyside 0132 Pretoria
Tel.: (2712)3431590/3431591 Fax: (2712)3431082 TELEX EYPEM SA 322222
TURKEY
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Ataturk Bulvari no. 126 06680 Kavaklidere
Ankara PO Box 06680
Ankara
Tel.: (90312)4684647/4261026/4266478 Fax: (90312)4270099
Email: egankara@yahoo.com
UNITED KINGDOM
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
26 South Street London W1Y 6DD
Tel: (44) 020 7499-2401, 020 7499-3304 Fax: (44) 020 7355-3568 / 491-154
Email: etembuk@hotmail.com
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Ct NW Washington DC 20008-2023
Fax: 202 244 4319
Email: Egypt-embassy@usa.net
@@@@@@@@@@@ SAMPLE LETTER @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
I am writing to express my outrage over the persecution of 52 men now
facing trial in Cairo for their homosexuality, as well as the cruel sentence
handed down on September 18 to an adolescent involved in the case.
The reputation of Egypt is at stake. These men must be freed. It is time
for these unjust proceedings to end.
These men have been jailed for over two months since their arrest on May
11, 2001—-in violation of the internationally accepted protections against
arbitrary detention. There is strong evidence that police and guards have
subjected the men to torture. The sensational publicity given the case in the
State-directed media—-clearly the product of officially leaked information—-
has only served further to prejudice the possibility of their receiving a fair
trial. The Emergency Security Court which will try them allows no appeal to a
higher tribunal — violating the express provisions of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Egypt has ratified.
I urge you to see that the charges against them are dropped and the men are
freed. I urge you to give a full pardon to the adolescent sentenced on
September 18.I urge you to eliminate the Emergency Law of 1981 which allows
trials before courts which allow no proper appeal. I urge you to end the
practice of prolonged, incommunicado arbitrary detention. I urge you to see
that both press and criminal justice system abide by the terms of Article 23
of the Law No. 96 Concerning the Regulation of Journalists, which bars
publication of details of a trial or investigation which might influence its
outcome. I urge you to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment of
detainees, and punish those found responsible. And I urge you to work for the
repeal of provisions—whether criminalizing "contempt for religion"
or "obscene behavior" or "prostitution"—which can be
used to penalize persons exercising internationally recognized rights to free
speech, free assembly, free association, and freedom of thought and belief.
—————— BACKGROUND ——————
At least 55 men were arrested on May 11, 2001, in a police raid on a Cairo
discotheque believed to be a gathering place for homosexuals. 52 of these men
now face trial for "obscene behavior"; the adolescent convicted on
September 18 was apparently tried under this or a similar provision. Two
defendants still facing trial are also charged with "contempt for
religion." All the accused have been jailed continuously since their
arrest more than four months ago. All the adults face trial before an
Emergency State Security Court, whose decisions allow no ordinary appeal.
Their trial opened on August 15, and has proceeded with sessions in irregular
succession since.
The Egyptian government and the State-controlled press have provoked
extraordinary public hysteria over the case, with sensational news articles
revealing the names and workplaces and even reprinting photographs of many of
those accused. Some of those still on trial face up to eight years’
imprisonment; recent news and magazine articles have proposed execution as an
appropriate punishment.
Ever since families and friends were first allowed contact with the jailed
men, they have reported evidence that the men were tortured. Tora Prison,
where most have been held since mid-May, is notorious for meting out physical
abuse to inmates. At a September 5 hearing in the case, a reporter for Agence
France-Presse was able to speak to several of the defendants through the cage
where they are confined in the courtroom.They confirmed stories of abuse, for
which they are apparently singled out because of their alleged homosexuality.
One spoke of being subjected to a weekly "session of torture".
"We had one two days ago," he said. "You have to take off your
T-shirt or whatever you’re wearing and they get other people to hit you on
the back. They use wire and they usually hit us on the back so it doesn’t
show, and with their hands." He added that guards trample the prisoners’
food on the ground to make it inedible.
Another prisoner, Sherif Farahat—identified by prosecutors as the
ringleader of the homosexual "cult"—was able to tell the reporter
that he had been subjected to three weeks of interrogations and beatings while
blindfolded. Asked for more details, he added, "I’m afraid that they
will hurt us if I tell you this, but electricity, this is the first thing I
can tell you, not only to me but to other people." (See AFP, "Gays
Tortured in Cairo Cells," September 6, 2001.)
The adolescent who was convicted on September 18 was tried in a separate,
juvenile court; because of his age, his case was not heard by the Emergency
State Security Court before which the other defendants stand. (IGLHRC will not
reveal his name; his age has been variously reported in the press as 15 or
17.) It is not clear whether he was arrested at the discotheque on May 11, or
whether police connected him to the homosexual "cult" through an
informant. The youth pleaded innocent to the charge of "debauchery."
He had reportedly confessed, under interrogation, to having practiced
homosexuality and to being a member of a gay organization; at the trial, he
claimed the confession was extracted by beatings and torture. However, he was
found guilty and given the maximum sentence, three years in juvenile prison,
with three years of police supervision to follow. Although his case had not
been widely reported before his conviction, the verdict was extensively and
sensationally covered; the State-controlled daily Al Gomhuria prominently
carried his picture.
IGLHRC has monitored this case consistently since its beginning. Detailed
information on earlier developments can be found in previous IGLHRC alerts:
"Witch Hunt Underway: Dozens Arrested, Held Incommunicado," May
17, 2001 (http://www.iglhrc.org/world/africa/Egypt2001May.html).
"Emergency Court Trials for Homosexual Suspects" (statement by
IGLHRC and Human Rights Watch), July 3, 2001 (http://www.iglhrc.org/news/press/pr_010703.html).
"Perversion of Justice: Protest the Cairo Trial!" August 13, 2001
(http://www.iglhrc.org/world/africa/Egypt2001Aug.html).
See also a Press Information Note, "Explaining Egypt’s Targeting of
Gays," published by the Middle East Research and Information Project and
republished by IGLHRC, at http://www.iglhrc.org/world/africa/Egypt2001Jul.html.
###
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