Gay Today: World

Hundreds of Egyptian Gay Men Jailed

Australia Finally Grants Peter Tatchell Visa

By Rex Wockner
International News Report

Hundreds of Egyptian Gay Men Jailed

The number of men jailed in Egypt solely for being gay is in the "hundreds," Newsweek reported February 16.

Gay-rights activists have provided details on only about 40 men who have been imprisoned in recent months in an ongoing crackdown on gay bars and Internet sites, and on suspected homosexuals in general.

"Nobody knows how many gays are languishing in Egyptian jails -- the number is certainly in the hundreds -- or what prompted the massive dragnet," Newsweek said. "Every day brings new stories of roundups of homosexuals in Cairo and other cities."

Australia Finally Grants Peter Tatchell Visa

Australia finally gave British gay activist Peter Tatchell a visa February 19 -- too late for him to attend his stepfather's funeral or, he says, the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Tatchell had announced plans to sue the Australian government a week earlier.

"This ends nearly six months of delay and obstruction", Tatchell said. "There was never any lawful basis for excluding me under legislation that was intended to bar war criminals, terrorists, drug traffickers and murderers."

The delays likely resulted from Tatchell's announced plans to effect a citizen's arrest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at the Commonwealth conference, which was rescheduled for this March after the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. He should be jailed for numerous egregious human-rights violations, Tatchell says.

Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:
Egypt Blasted by French Stars, 6,000 French Citizens and IGLHRC

Egypt's Conviction of 23 Condemned by Human Rights Watch

Australia Urged: Arrest Zimbabwe's President as a Torturer

Related Sites:
Huamn Rights Watch

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Mugabe is vociferously anti-gay. He has said: "What an abomination, a rottenness of culture, real decadence of culture. [Homosexuals are] repugnant to my human conscience ... immoral and repulsive. ... Animals in the jungle are better than these people because at least they know that this is a man or a woman. ... I don't believe they have any rights at all."