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| SUSPECTED HOMOSEXUALS ARRIVE AT A CAIRO COURT ON
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The call for an international boycott is part of a wider movement to pressure the Egyptian government to drop the charges against the 52 men arrested during a raid on the Queen Boat, a restaurant located on the Nile in Zamalek.
Al Fatiha, an international gay Muslim association, the Gay and Lesbian Arab Society and Amnesty International branches held demonstrations on August 15 in front of Egyptian embassies and consulates in at least ten cities in the US, Canada, Germany, Australia, Britain and France, as well as outside of the U.N. Commission for Human Rights in Geneva.
The protests also included a phone and fax campaign to Egyptian diplomatic posts around the world to demand the immediate release of the detained men. The day of action took place just as the men appeared for trial at the State Security Court.
The fate of 52 Egyptian men who have been detained since their arrest on May 11 was set when their case was referred to trial in the state security court.
Two defendants have been singled out as ringleaders of the group of men who are accused by Attorney General Maher Abdel Wahid of "exploiting the Islamic religion to spread extremist ideas," and practicing gay sex "as part of the group's rituals in front of the remaining defendants and others with the aim of insulting the heavenly religions and sparking civil strife."
The remaining 50 men are charged with "practicing debauchery with men," a vague reference to gay sex.
Police arrested the men on May 11, stating that they had been involved in wild sex parties on the Queen Boat, a restaurant houseboat located off the Cairo island district of Zamalek. Five foreigners were also on the boat, but were released by authorities, who only detained those holding Egyptian identity cards.
On June 7, state security extended the detention for another 15 days after two days of court appearances. The men are being detained at the Tora Prison.
Prior to the court appearance, authorities conducted forensic medical examinations of all the men to determine if they had practiced anal sex.
State security investigators said that the group was mainly teenagers who had painted their faces and then had group and homosexual sex. Eyewitnesses deny police allegation that sexual activity was taking place, stating that the authorities were lying to cover up the fact that they were rounding up people simply because they were suspected of being gay.
The international human rights organization Amnesty International released a statement on June 8 stating that it was "gravely concerned about the ongoing detention," of the men, solely because of their sexual orientation.
The rights group said, " Amnesty International believes that the majority, if not all, of these men are detained purely on the grounds of their alleged sexual orientation. If people are detained solely on account of their sexual orientation, Amnesty International would consider them prisoners of conscience and call for their immediate and unconditional release."
Amnesty also criticized the Egyptian media coverage of the arrest, saying that it was inappropriate for the newspapers to publish the names of those arrested.
The Egyptian-based Web site, GayEgypt.com has emerged as a key source of information and communication for the gay community in Egypt and in coordinating the activism in support of those arrested.
Ali Asali, one of the founders of GayEgypt.com, believes that the current crackdown on the Egyptian gay community stems from the growing power of Islamic fundamentalism in Egypt. "The political motives behind the current clampdown go back to the student riots at Al Azhar University in May 2000 against the supposedly blasphemous book Banquet for Seaweed. This confrontation, followed with successes by the Muslim Brotherhood in subsequent elections, scared the government," said Asali in an e-mail interview.
The gay rights activist is currently in self imposed exile, because he feared he would be arrested. Earlier this year the government arrested two men for allegedly selling gay sex over the Internet. This, along with other government attacks, made Asali, not his real name, fear that he might be arrested.
In fact, the Web site warns Egyptians that the police may be monitoring the site and recommends that individuals log on from different computers.
According to Asali, 15,000 people visit the site every month, including many from Egypt.
Voice of Freedom for Our 52 Imprisoned
Egyptian
Brothers
http://www.gayegypt.com