Fridae

Authorities in Cairo, Egypt have upheld the penal sentence against Wissam Toufic Abyad, a 26 year-old Lebanese national who had been arrested a month ago after he arranged to meet "Raoul", whom he met via an Internet personals site. Undercover police have used the name "Raoul" in the past to entrap suspected gay men.

The Heliopolis Court of Misdemeanours convicted Abyad on January 20 on charges of the "habitual practice of debauchery [fujur,]", a charge commonly used in Egypt against private, consensual homosexual conduct. The court also convicted him of advertising "against public morals"; and "inciting passers-by" on a "public road or travelled or frequented place� to commit indecent acts [fisq]" - both referring to his having placed a personals advertisement on the Internet site.

Many recent cases of Internet entrapment of suspected homosexuals have led to convictions in the first instance that were later reversed on appeal. Human Rights Watch is concerned that the appeals court's decision in the Abyad case may signal increasing harshness in the application of the law.

"For two years now, the Egyptian authorities have conducted an on-going campaign of harassment against suspected homosexuals," said Joe Stork, Washington director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch.

"The police are raiding private homes and using the Internet to entrap men on trumped-up charges of 'debauchery.' People looking for support and community find a prison cell instead."

Egypt's most notorious "gay trial," of fifty-two men arrested at the Queen Boat discotheque in May 2001, is also drawing to a close. In November 2001, after a process marked by lurid publicity in the state-controlled press, twenty-three of the men were convicted and given sentences of between one and five years' imprisonment. Their case was heard before an Emergency State Security Court, whose verdicts under Egypt's emergency legislation allow no ordinary appeal.

President Hosni Mubarak, who as military governor must review all verdicts of this court, later cancelled innocent and guilty verdicts alike for fifty of the Queen Boat defendants, resulting in a retrial of these cases before an ordinary court. That court has announced it will hand down its decision on March 15.

(Source: Human Rights Watch press release)