 |  |
Click for Contents
|
P.O. Box 1805,Jerusalem 91017 Tel. 972-2-531-5440, Fax: 972-2-537-9489 Advertising Fax: 972-2-531-5425, Email Editorial: [email protected] Subscriptions: [email protected] Web site: http://www.jrep.com |
Caught in the Closet
George Ziyyad
Egypt�s gay community and the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood have one thing in common -- state security court trials. In mid-August, 52 Egyptian men suspected of homosexuality were scheduled to file back into a Cairo courtroom for the second session of a trial that is arousing strong emotions in Egypt. The case is likely to drag on for months, but the first few sensational weeks have already set local commentators surmising about the reasons behind the police�s virulent anti-gay campaign.
Some believe the authorities are trying to appease the country�s Muslim fundamentalist lobby; others see the high-profile trial as an attempt to deflect public attention from the economic recession. Altogether, though, the whole sorry episode seems to be showing up a regime nervous over a string of social and political tensions, eager to present the public with something other than government incompetence over which to vent their passions.
Over 50 men were arrested in May at a Nile boat bar known as a popular hang-out for gays. Lurid and extensive coverage followed in the local press, the case having caused quite a stir in Egypt�s predominantly conservative culture. The 52 detainees -- five foreigners taken in the original sweep were let go -- are being tried on charges of "forming a group which aims to exploit the Islamic religion to propagate extremist ideas" and "practicing sexual immorality" -- a euphemism for homosexuality which Egyptian law does not expressly prohibit, but which is regarded here as a sin.
Since no one at any stage was actually caught in flagrante, the charges involving twisting religion are central to the state�s case against the men. Most are guilty by association, as suspected members of a "group" formed by one of the main defendants, who made the mistake of talking at length about his religious beliefs during questioning. (Sources say that according to the prosecutor�s report, this defendant believes that relations between men are not religiously wrong, heterosexual relations are mainly about procreation, and that a young man will appear among the Kurds to make war on the monotheistic religions, which his group wanted to stop.)
His lawyer, Farid al-Deeb (who unsuccessfully defended Azzam Azzam, an Israeli convicted of spying in 1997), says his defendant is "psychologically unbalanced" but not gay.
Membership in such a "group" carries the maximum five-year prison sentence. "Sexual immorality" is a far less serious crime, and its vagueness gives the courts discretion to jail or to acquit. Observers suspect the judge will opt for releasing most of the men, who are mainly in their 20s and 30s, but come down hard on a core of them.
Protesting and sobbing, the defendants all pleaded innocent at the opening of the trial on July 8. Many of the 52 filed into the cramped courtroom with towels on their heads in an effort to hide their faces. One fainted in the stifling heat, but recovered after the proceedings began, two hours later than scheduled. Many quoted popular verses from the Koran as they protested their innocence. "We only want mercy," cried one defendant from the courtroom dock, over the din of wailing family members. "We�ve been detained without any evidence against us," yelled another. Khadiga Ramadan, mother of one defendant, told reporters her son was taken off the street by police and detained for 20 days before his family discovered where he was. One defendant said he was beaten by police after his arrest at a gymnasium where he works as a trainer. While in custody, he also underwent a medical examination to test if he had performed gay sex.
Many families turned their anger on the press. "You journalists are filthy. The press wants to scandalize us!" angry women shouted, while pushing and kicking photographers. "The press fabricated this case." The press, indeed, has much to answer for. Egypt�s State Security Investigations department -- more used to chasing members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the most popular Islamic group -- knew it could rely on a sensationalist trial-by-press as soon as the late-night arrests were made. Some newspaper columnists are now raising questions about the way the case was handled and have criticized other papers� rush to publish the names and pictures of the accused. Tabloids have already published a list of names, addresses and occupations of the 52.
"The court should have warned the press and prevented photography during the trial sessions until the court issues its final verdict in the case," wrote Salama Ahmed Salama in the Al-Ahram daily. "Unfortunately, the press makes a distinction between ordinary citizens and senior officials who are accused of corruption." The press avoids publishing photos of big shots who are under investigation and often deliberately avoids mentioning their names, he noted. In cases involving small fry, he argued, the "simplest rules of decency and justice mean the accused should also not be defamed during investigation and trial."
The case follows a string of publicized incidents involving homosexuality in the past year -- including reports of gay soliciting on the Internet, which prompted one paper last year to call for the death penalty for homosexuals.
Commentators are wondering what prompted police action now against Cairo�s thriving underground gay community. Many surmise that the authorities sought a high-profile case to deflect public attention from Egypt�s current economic woes or to appease the large Islamist lobby. The Muslim Brotherhood has been a strong voice in parliament since winning seats in last year�s elections, despite heavy policy harassment designed to keep it out completely. Earlier this year the Ministry of Culture acceded to Brotherhood demands to prevent the publication of three novels containing sex scenes, in a clear sign of the growing influence of the group. The government may now be trying to contend with it by "out-Islaming" the Islamists.
Still, the decision to try these men in a state security court under Egypt�s emerg-ency laws -- which have been in place since 1981, technically to counter Muslim militant violence -- has raised eyebrows in Egypt and abroad. The court�s verdict can only be overturned via a petition to Presi-dent Hosni Mubarak. "This case exhibits some of the worse features of Egypt�s justice system," a joint statement by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission said last month.
"I can�t see any reasonable reason to send them to a state security court. Perhaps [the authorities] want to make some balance -- they try Islamists, so they want to do the same to the other [liberal] side," says local rights lawyer Negad al-Borai.
Generally, the atmosphere in Egypt is one of nervous tension. Egyptians are largely unable to express their anger over Israel�s handling of the 10-month-old intifada in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because the government won�t tolerate street protests. Facing a string of high- level corruption cases and a flight of local and foreign investors on the stock market, the government is thought to be extremely unpopular, though government control of the media strives to conceal just how unpopular. Clashes between jobless grad-uates and police in early July, meanwhile, showed the potential for rising unemployment to lead to violence on the streets. The government is ever mindful of the 1977 bread riots and rioting by underpaid police conscripts in 1985.
GAYS THEMSELVES SEE IN THIS crackdown ironic similarities to the way the state has been dealing with the Brotherhood since 1995. They suggest that the state security establishment wants to make gays share the limelight with the Islamists as Egypt�s official public enemy No. 1.
"State security has been cracking down on gays for months now. It�s the same strategy they used with the Brotherhood: Arrest some to frighten the rest," says a 22-year-old gay man who asked not to be named. "The Interior Ministry thinks that as a community we have become too open and confident," he adds. He says police have arrested a number of men in recent months after luring them on false dates advertised on the Internet. (The Interior Ministry set up a unit two years ago to monitor Internet usage in a move that was seen as partly aimed at monitoring gay activities.)
Although Egypt�s gay community is used to periodic police raids on Cairo�s multitude of discos and bars whose business is mainly gay-driven, this time many will lie low for months because of the seriousness of the latest blow. Gay-Egypt.com, a London-based website, is advising all gay tourists against visiting Egypt. Even heterosexuals might be put off from visiting the country because of the bad publicity the case has received in the West, the source of Egypt�s lucrative tourist industry.
"One day we hope to take legal action against those who authorized this operation. Gay rights are human rights. Homophobic violence is a crime," proclaims the GayEgypt site, whose owner was forced by police threats to move the site outside Egypt.
For now, the subject of homosexuality remains such a taboo that there is huge social pressure on all sections of society to toe the anti-gay line. None of the defendants is fighting for the right to be gay, though at least some of them no doubt are. Only one local human rights group is pro-viding legal support for any of those on trial. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Egypt�s main rights group, is distancing itself from the case, since support would "subject us to problems with public opinion," says secretary general Hafez Abu Saada. The group sacked one employee for reporting on the case for a foreign publication.
"If you judge this incident by the measure of other societies, such as Western ones, it comes out wrong, unacceptable, and even strange," says sociologist Jawad Fatayer. But in Egypt, he goes on, homosexuality "is considered wrong, and this society does not want to accept it or even negotiate with it."
Yet the phenomenon is as entrenched in Egypt as anywhere else, Fatayer acknowledges, and extends to a number of well-known public officials and national celebrities. Given the campaign of arrests, the ongoing trial and the media vilification, though, most Egyptian homosexuals will likely continue to adopt a policy of kiss and don�t tell.
(August 27, 2001)
Middle East
|
 |
|
© The Jerusalem Report 1999-2001 |  |