Two Egyptians arrested last October, supposedly HIV positive, are handcuffed to their hospital beds 23 hours per day while awaiting sentencing for homosexuality. The Human Rights Watch has condemned the physical abuse that has been meted out to the two men involved in the case as well as the arrests of other presumed homosexuals.
Two Egyptians arrested last October, supposedly HIV positive, are handcuffed to their hospital beds 23 hours per day while awaiting sentencing for homosexuality. The Human Rights Watch has condemned the physical abuse that has been meted out to the two men involved in the case as well as the arrests of other presumed homosexuals.
Handcuffed to their beds 23 hours per day.
This is the plight of at least two Egyptian men presumed to be homosexuals, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) sources. The two men were arrested in Cairo during the month of October last year and handed over to the « morality police ». Without any proof, the police accused the two of homosexuality after one had claimed to be HIV positive. Their refusal to sign a police statement attracted maltreatments including anal examinations that were meant to “prove” that they had had sexual relations with men. The HRW does not accept the medical credibility of the test, condemning it as a form of “torture”.
The police further arrested two other men by virtue of telephone contacts and photographs found on the first two suspects. All the men arrested had undergone HIV tests which revealed that two of them were HIV positive, afterwhich the carriers of the virus were taken to their present hospital confinement. They are expected to stay there until the attorney general’s decision on whether they (all four of them) should be charged with homosexuality, a sexual orientation condemned as “debauchery” under the country’s laws.
Public health in danger
This case led to the arrest of a group of four men, who were sentenced to a year in prison for « repeated acts of debauchery ». This sentence was reconfirmed after an appeal February 2nd. And what exactly was the crime committed? To have met in an apartment belonging to one of them whilst awaiting the court’s sentence. Once again the police statement does not precise the nature of any illicit behaviour other than charging them wtih having same sex encounters. They were also forced to undergo HIV tests which pointed to one of them as being HIV positive. The outcome?: The one found to be HIV positive is also to be chained to his hospital bed in Cairo.
Human Right Watch demands the annulment of the sentences of the four charged with homosexuality as well as freedom for the other four sentenced for the same reason. The HRW programme director for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual rights has called on Egypt to cease its HIV related arrests for the sake of “public health”. “these shocking arrests and sentences, says Scott Long, portrays both ignorance and injustice … These cases show that the Egyptian police does not consider HIV / AIDS as a disease but as a punishable crime”.
