Source: Bloomberg
Cairo, Egypt -- A series of arrests of gay men are part of an effort by governments throughout the Middle East and North Africa to out-moralize Islamic parties that have denounced the perceived depravity of Arab societies under autocratic rule, Bloomberg reports in an in-depth story on the dangerous phenomenon.
For three months, Egyptian police have embarked on periodic sweeps of downtown streets to clear them of presumed homosexuals, Bloomberg's Daniel Williams reports.
Homosexuality isn't illegal in Egypt, though it is a convenient target, says Hani Shukrallah, executive director of the Heikal Foundation for Arab Journalism in Cairo.
"Meaningless crackdowns have become a regular thing," Shukrullah told Williams. "If not gays, devil worshippers. If not devil worshippers, apostates. The government needs to outbid Islamic opponents as guardian of morals."
The crackdowns in Egypt aren't unique, Bloomberg reports, noting that several countries in the area have arrested groups of gay men recently in high-profile cases.
In January, six men in Morocco were accused of homosexual conduct, a crime in that country, after a video circulated that showed one dancing at a wedding dressed as a woman, according to Amnesty International.
The men were sentenced to jail terms of four to 10 months. "Persons imprisoned solely on the basis of their alleged or real sexual orientation are prisoners of conscience and should be immediately and unconditionally released," London-based Amnesty said in a statement.
Last December, Kuwait's parliament passed a law that criminalized "imitating the appearance of the opposite sex." Subsequent roundups netted at least 16 suspects, New York-based Human Rights Watch reported March 31, adding that three detainees were beaten.
The suppressive wave created another stir among human-rights activists in February when Egypt's morality police arrested two men on a Cairo street. One said he was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The police threw both in jail and, by inspecting their mobile phones, found the numbers of 10 acquaintances, whom they also arrested. They forced all to submit to HIV testing, according to the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
On April 7, 117 human-rights organizations from 41 countries sent a letter to the Egyptian Health Ministry and a government-sponsored doctors' union condemning the crackdown and participation of medical personnel.
Against this backdrop, it's dangerous to "come out," a fundamental virtue in Western gay-activist thinking.
Bloomberg's Williams talked to Behaa Saber Semeda, 35, in Cairo. Police first arrested him at a Cairo cafe in 1997 with a group of friends.
He says he was beaten into signing a confession to prostitution; a court sentenced him to six months imprisonment. He remained free while an appeal of his conviction languished in the courts. In 2003, he asked a court to dismiss his case on the grounds that the statue of limitations had expired. Instead, he was sent to prison.
In 2005, he became politically active, creating a double whammy. He says police found him with a Human Rights Watch report and jailed him for six days. In 2006, he was caught in a roundup of anti-government demonstrators and detained for 15 days. In 2007, he was charged with disturbing the peace at a pro-democracy rally. That case is pending.
He says he's unemployed and lives off his family. "I don't have a future," he told Bloomberg, noting his original conviction for debauchery is still in his record. "If they don't get me for being gay, they'll get me for being anti-government."
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