Amnesty International Expresses Concern at Guilty Verdict in Egypt
Calls Verdict Part of Government’s Attempt to Muzzle
Civil Society
Amnesty
International, March 17, 2003
CONTACT:
Gwen Fitzgerald, (240) 462-9076
or Michelle Linder, (212) 633-4268
New York—Amnesty International USA today expressed
grave concern about the “guilty” verdict for 21 of 50 defendants in their
retrial for “habitual debauchery,” a charge the organization believes may
have been made solely in connection with the men’s perceived or actual
sexual orientation. In the retrial 29 defendants, who had been acquitted after
a presidential review of the original proceedings, were again acquitted.
“The guilty verdict in the retrial of the Cairo 50 is the latest outrage in
a case that is nothing less than a miscarriage of justice,” stated Dr
William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. “Now it
is time to urge the Egyptian government to allow all members of civil society,
including homosexuals, freedom from persecution and harassment.” The
organization stresses that the targeting and harassment of gay men, as in the
case of the Cairo 50, is part of the Egyptian government’s attempt to muzzle
civil society. Islamists, non-violent political opponents, human rights
defenders, journalists and leaders of religious minority groups have all come
under increased scrutiny and harassment by the authorities. “The results of
this case are a warning sign that the larger human rights movement in Egypt is
under attack,” commented Geoffrey Mock, Amnesty International USA’s Egypt
country specialist. “We need to urge the Egyptian government to end the
harassment of civil society.”
Amnesty International USA’s consistent position has
been that no one should be put on trial solely for charges related to their
sexual orientation. “These men appear to be victims of a pattern of arrest
and detention based on their alleged sexual orientation in clear violation of
international human rights standards,” stated Michael Heflin, Director of
Amnesty International USA’s OUTfront program. “The Egyptian government
needs to do more to end the criminalization of consensual, private sexual
relations.”
The right to
freedom from discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes sexual
orientation, is recognized in international treaties, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Egypt
is a State Party. While it has been stated that in Egypt “homosexuality was
not a criminal offence in itself,” ongoing trials and imprisonment of people
based on sexual orientation demonstrate that charges of “habitual
debauchery” continue to be used to criminalize consensual homosexual
relations in private.
The Egyptian authorities continue their campaign of
harassment and Internet entrapment of gay men, often using Internet
correspondence as evidence against them. Amnesty International USA considers
those detained solely for their perceived or actual sexual orientation
prisoners of conscience. Recent examples of such entrapment include:
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On February 17, 2003, a court of appeals in Cairo
upheld a sentence of 15-months’ imprisonment of prisoner of conscience
Wissam Tawfiq Abyad, a 26-year-old Lebanese national, for “habitual
debauchery”. On January 16 Tawfiq Abyad met a contact he had made on an
Internet website for homosexuals, now believed to be a security officer or
police informant. Electronic conversations were used against him as
evidence.
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Prisoner of conscience Zaki Sayid Zaki 'Abd al-Malak
was detained in similar circumstances on January 25, 2002, in Cairo. On
February 7 the Agouza Criminal Court sentenced him to three years
imprisonment for ‘habitual debauchery,’ and the verdict was upheld on
March 31. He was reportedly ill-treated in detention.
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