Fridae

The defence lawyers of the 52 men accused of ?contempt of religion? and/or ?practicing debauchery? have again asserted in court that the cases should be thrown out on the grounds that proper arrest procedures were not followed, according to the only surviving Egyptian gay website, gayegypt.com.

The court also heard that the arrests were made ?completely at random with no prior investigations?, and that the ?investigation reports? been fabricated after the arrests.

The prosecution was unable to explain how they could have monitored the four defendants when the defence layers revealed that their clients had given false names and addresses to the police at the time of their arrests.

According to the London-based website, one of the lawyers, Fawzy El Haggan ?dropped a bombshell? at the end of the hearing by quoting a case with exactly the same details. At almost exactly the same time last year, 25 May 2000, the same team of arresting officers, led by Taha el Embaby fabricated the details of 150 people.

A judge in a civil court threw out the cases on in July 2000 for the lack of any evidence except the officers? statements ? the same as in this case. He also added that May is the last month for evaluation of officers? records, as June is the month when the official reports on officers? performance come out.

El Haggan also argued that the forensic examination of the men which supposedly ?proved? that many of them had engaged in ?immoral acts? (a euphemism for anal sex) was unreliable. He presented a very recent report that showed that there are more than 400 errors in forensics department reports annually, and that both the Cairo and Alexandria forensics departments were officially investigated because of this high rate of error.

While the report said some lawyers are optimistic, since it became very clear that the case is completely fabricated, all agreed that the outcome is dependent on the integrity of the judge.

The verdict, which will not be subject to appeal will be announced on 14 November. The minor who was sentenced to three years? imprisonment, plus three on probation, has appealed his case. His case will be heard before a juvenile court on 31 October.

The report also stated that arrests are continuing in Cairo?s gay community. An unspecified number of men had been arrested in Heliopolis, and 15 others arrested at a friendly gathering at a home in Haram, both are suburbs of Cairo. The government is said to have placed a complete media blackout on this news.