An Egyptian court has cleared 26 men charged with ‘debauchery’ - however one of the men says he was raped in prison. “The court has ruled that all the accused are innocent," a judge ruled, reportedly causing relatives of some of the men to fall to the floor with relief. The men were arrested in early December in a raid on a Cairo bathhouse. While gay sex is not specifically outlawed in Egypt, the men were arrested on charges of “debauchery,” an allegation that is often used as a pretence to arrest men and women suspected of identifying as LGBT. The raid was caught on camera by a journalist, Mona Iraqi, who claimed to have tipped off police, and then broadcast the footage in a piece she claimed told “the whole story of the dens for spreading AIDS in Egypt”. Defence lawyers are now planning to bring charges against the journalist, and a police officer they allege fabricated his testimony. The arrested men were also subjected to anal exams, because Egyptian officials claim testing the tightness of the anal sphincter can establish whether or not a man is gay – a method which has been slammed by human rights campaigners. One of the arrested men has also told lawyers he was raped after the group were thrown into a police cell, while still naked, alongside other prisoners. “It’s disturbing that this case, and the harm it caused to these 26 people, was the result of a sensationalist journalist colluding with the Egyptian government in its efforts to terrorize individuals suspected of being LGBT,” says Ty Cobb from Human Rights Campaign. He says while the courts were right to acquit the men due to the weakness of the case against them, the verdict should not give the Egyptian government a free pass to continue to persecute its lgbt citizens. “Until the regime of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi demonstrates its commitment to protecting the human rights of all its citizens, the international community will monitor and shine a light on Egypt’s acts to imprison LGBT people. “Engaging in witch hunts against the LGBT community in order to enhance the el-Sisi regime's conservative credentials is wrong, and harms innocent people.” The HRC says the trial took place in a worsening human rights environment in Egypt. It says civil society in Egypt is suffering severe restrictions, including a sweeping crackdown on organizations, suppression of political protests, excessive use of police force and arrest and trial without due process.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 13th January 2015 - 10:02am