Same-sex party sends Egyptian men to prison

CAIRO – It isn’t a crime to be homosexual in Egypt, at least in theory. But a court case, resulting in three-year prison terms handed down Saturday to eight defendants for “inciting debauchery,” demonstrated the increasingly hostile climate toward gays in a country where repression of all kinds is on the rise.

The evidence upon which the eight were convicted appeared to rest strongly on a video – viewed widely on Egyptian social media in recent months – showing them attending an alleged same-sex engagement party on a boat on the Nile River. The men denied any wrongdoing and said the event in question, described by the prosecution as a “same-sex lovers’ party,” had been misconstrued.

The prosecution’s case included an examination by state medical personnel, purportedly to determine whether the men were in fact homosexual.

Homosexuality has long been taboo in Egypt. Even in relatively cosmopolitan big cities, conservative Muslim mores exercise tremendous influence. Gay men have frequently been jailed under various statutes governing indecency, immorality, or offense to Islam.

Egypt’s harsh treatment of those suspected of homosexual acts has been extensively documented by human rights groups over many years. Some of those accused have been tortured, according to groups including Human Rights Watch.

In one notorious case more than a dozen years ago, 57 men were rounded up in a raid on a floating Nile discotheque and tried by a state security court. Nearly two dozen were sentenced to prison terms, some as long as five years.

In Saturday’s case, the men received three years of probation in addition to their prison sentences. The verdicts can be appealed.