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Letters to the Editor
Wissam Abyad, mentioned in the message below is a Lebanese citizen, who was arrested in January 2003. It will never be known how many people have really been arrested, especially since the government of Egypt has banned the press from writing stories about the crackdown of suspected gay men, in light of international pressure.
As Wissam sits, still in Prison, and seemingly denied the justice of an
upcoming Presidential Pardon on the 6 of October, I felt that sharing some
numbers with you on the extent of the persecution of gay men in Cairo to
date would provide a good backdrop for yet another date of injustice
against Wissam.
In January of 2001, 52 men were arrested in a now infamous raid on the Nile disco, the Queen Boat. These men continue to capture the public attention due to the blatant abuse this arrest showed on the part of the Egyptian authorities. 14 of these men have had their sentences reduced, but continue to serve "probation" in Egyptian police stations every night of the week for one full year from 6pm to 6am. Remember, these men were physically abused, tortured, and verbally abused by these same police. Since then, more than 40 young men have been contacted, lured to a meeting, and entrapped by undercover police using the Internet. There have been more than 40 certainly, but 40 is the number which have been documented by local Egyptian human rights organizations in person. Since 2001, young Egyptian men have used the Internet as a replacement meeting place in the environment of fear and repression in Egypt which has been fostered by the Egyptian Authorities, despite appeals from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the US Embassy, the European Parliament, and other International organizations. In 2003, since Wissam's arrest in January, there have been 15 documented cases of Internet entrapment in which 21 victims have been arrested and tried for fabricated charges of habitual debauchery and solicitation, as if they were common prostitutes. There have been a total of 25 documented cases of involving 62 victims -- these are not the total number of actual cases of abuse and persecution of gay men in Egypt; these are merely the numbers of documented cases, where individuals have asked for help, or have been interviewed by human rights advocates. Four victims in 2003 have been foreigners, like Wissam. Three Lebanese and one Arab-Israeli. The other 2 Lebanese citizens and the Arab-Israeli were acquitted on appeal, and all have been illegally deported by the Egyptian Authorities. Most victims are released on appeal after being charged and sentenced to 3-5 years in prison. This is usually a cycle of 4-6 weeks, in which the victim loses their job or is out of university too long to continue the semester, they are verbally and potentially physically abused by police, prison officials, and been held in cells with thieves, rapists, and other real criminals. In many cases they have had their heads shaved by the Egyptian authorities and forced to dress in prison clothing which awaiting their appeal. Wissam has been in contact with several other victims of various methods of gay persecution in Egypt through his travels through the Egyptian prison system. He was held in the horrible conditions of the Cairo appeals jail with 8 young men who were arrested in Aguza, Cairo, in an entrapment case involving police raiding a private party. He also was in the Cairo appeals jail with 12 young men who were arrested in Giza, Cairo, in a nefarious case in which the police forced a gay man to call his friends one by one and arrested them at his front door. In Wissam's case, he was arrested on January 16th, 2003, after being entrapped by a policeman posing as a Spanish citizen new to Cairo. He was charged with habitual debauchery and sentenced to 15 months in an Egyptian prison. His appeal was on February 17th, 2003, in which a panel of 3 senior judges, 2 of whom have benefited from USAID funding to learn English for human rights, and been sent on a study tour to the USA on the American legal system, all upheld his sentence with total and blatant disregard for the lack of evidence to support the charges. In the words of the senior judge on the panel, Yasser El-Ziat, as reported by the secretary recording their decision to uphold Wissam's sentence, "if he was chatting on the Internet then he must be gay and should go to prison." Our request for a suspended sentence was denied by this same judge in May, in a rescheduled sentence as he insisted on bringing Wissam into the court so that he could deny him a suspended sentence in person. Wissam is the only victim in 2003 who remains in Prison and denied justice. He was being considered for a Presidential Pardon on 6th of October, a yearly event in Egypt in which the President pardons petty criminals with short sentences. In our enquiries this week, it seems Wissam has not been included in this Pardon, even though he meets the criteria and was told from the day he was taken in to the Prison that he would be processed for release on the Pardon of 6th of October. This is the 4th time in 2003 that Wissam has been denied justice and fair treatment for release. He continues to languish in Prison, serving an unjust sentence, denied freedom 3 times already by the bigotry and cruelty of Egyptian officials. The Prosecutor General, the Minister of Justice and the President of Egypt continue to ignore requests by international organizations, human rights advocates, foreign governments, and thousands of individuals around the world for Wissam's freedom. When will Egypt demonstrate fairness, justice, and moderation which they claim to represent in the Middle East? When will Wissam have justice and his freedom? Thank you for your continued support of Wissam, and your continued pressure on the Egyptian government to free Wissam immediately and stop this repression and abuse of Gay men in Egypt.
Received by Al-Fatiha from an Egypt contact. Looking Past Howard Dean's Rhetoric
It wasn't that long ago that Massachusetts' own John Kerry was the supposed frontrunner in the Democratic primary race for president. But as President Bush's miscalculations and mishandlings in Iraq come into play, Howard Dean seems to have stolen that thunder from the Kerry campaign.
In my conversations with people, it is interesting to note that most people who support Dean always go back to the same arguments about his strong anti-war stance and his ability to speak up against the status quo. As a voter, it concerns me because so many people aren't even aware of what Dean actually stands for and they are supporting him strictly for what he stands against without getting the full picture. An examination on gay rights issues would show that Sen. Kerry has been behind the gay community in almost every fight and is on par with Dean in terms of his support for GLBT causes. While Kerry may not have taken as strong an anti-war stance as Dean has, he has shown a willingness to work along partisan lines, which is critical for any politician to work effectively. Forgotten in all this is Lieberman, who is the only Democratic front-runner I am aware of who had the courage to stand up and question the actions of people in both parties in regards to the Clinton/Lewinsky saga and the current investigatation facing the so-called Republican leak of a CIA agent's name. Kerry and Lieberman are the type of people the Democratic Party need in the White House: Someone who has the ability to question and also to listen and find some middle ground. Dean seems to me to be nothing more than the alter ego of Bush: One arguing too far to the left and the other too far to the right, at the risk of alienating everyone in between. Lastly, I strongly believe that Kerry and Lieberman have demonstrated leadership on Capitol Hill and know the ins and outs of politics at the federal level in ways that the other candidates do not. This is critical because this knowledge can be used to call up favors among politicians they have worked with for years in order to push for passing legislation that is important to them, and/or to block anti-gay legislation that may surface. I'm sure many voters have made an informed decision to support Dean based on his voting record, yet many others continue to support him based solely on his rhetoric. I believe we need a Democratic candidate who is electable, with both a demonstrated record of support for GLBT and other causes in addition to having the ability work in Congress and having the backbone to stand up to the religious right. While Howard Dean did this very well in Vermont, he had a court decision behind him as the impetus. Kerry voted against the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act while he was up for re-election in 1996 and appeared to do so out of good conscience. That is the type of proven leadership at the federal level that is needed. Furthermore, Kerry and the forgotten Lieberman both have pre-existing relationships on Capitol Hill that they can capitalize on, if elected, to push items forward and block items as needed. I urge the GLBT community to consider more than meets the eye and more than meets their ears when deciding whom to support in this critical race. Vote with reason, and not with anger. Otherwise, we will be no better than California.
Sincerely, 'Pertecting' My Piece of Apple Pie with Hate The sides are chosin but there is'nt a line drawn yet, gee you must be a liberal.Nazi's first killed the unproductive people first, then handicaped, blind, the "not normal" one's.www.terrisfight.org could be the first one killed in the "American holucost" and you support liberals? There is more than 100 million conservatives in America , far more than any Army on the planet." We will not fail "We will not faulter" We will correct America and put the "Perverts and the Man boy Club to rest. You liberals have infested our kids minds and thier schools and curupted our college's with your MTV perverts and twisted facts into your beliefs. As you can read the news papers, "the change is comming" thanks to a God fearing President Bush and his brother Jebb Bush. I am scared of war, but I'm not scared of the Nazi Liberals and what they tried to do, thats distroy America from the inside out and soon it will be stoped!!!..liberals cant Love without sex. liberals cant see when there blind, liberals cant handle indifference's and liberals cant handle there own kids because they dont know how to be a kid anymore. You not gay at 9 years old or at 16 unless there tought how to be gay. I think you should advertise more because the feed back would be mostly all HATE.I dont hate anyone but I'm learning that I might have to hate in order to help pertect my piece of apple pie. I dont have a problem with gays as you might think different from this email. but I dont. I feel you can be anything you want and still have value's in your life, gay or straight. Its the liberals that are inmoral and power, sex, money and control is what they wanted just like the nazi's wanted and they failed, thanks to people like my father, a democrat who served in ww2 and his son who served in ww3. If you listen to the whole story of the glen beck program and now a 3 min sound bite you just might agree with him ........................see ya on the front line. Phil |
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