Activists describe horrific conditions for gays in Egypt

Egyptian human rights activists gathered at the LGBT Community Center Monday, June 2 to describe the horrific conditions faced by gays and lesbians in their country.

Maher Sabry, an activist, filmmaker, and Egyptian refugee living in the Bay Area, spoke alongside Scott Long, the director of the LGBT rights program at Human Rights Watch. They were joined by another gay Egyptian refugee currently living in Paris, who goes only by the name Mazen to ensure his safety.

Sabry and Mazen's stories focused on events after the notorious Queen Boat raid in Cairo in 2001, which touched off three years of official persecution of gay men across Egypt. Fifty-two men were arrested in the raid of the cruise ship on the Nile, which had a disco that allowed men to enter without women - unusual in Egypt - and became a magnet for gay men.

Mazen was arrested the night of the Queen Boat raid and held for over a year without trial by Egyptian state security.
Sabry became involved in the aftermath of the raid when he heard of the arrest of a close friend.

Sabry described his struggles to obtain legal counsel for his detained friend. Eventually, he secured power of attorney to assist his friend, he said.

Mazen described his arrest, which followed his departure from a hotel across the street from the Queen Boat's dock.

In Egypt, Mazen explained, dressing well, as he was on the night of his arrest, was taken as an indication of being gay.

He described the questioning that followed his arrest, evoking laughter when he said that the color of the detained men's underwear was used against them as indications of homosexuality.

He also related a question from a judge used to determine the defendant's sexuality: "Do you like Coca-Cola?" The question, he said, was meant to connect the defendant to western values, and by extension, to gay sex, and it too, won a chuckle from the audience.

But Mazen fought back tears while describing the conditions that greeted the arrested men at the detention center where they were held for six months before trial.

"They welcomed us," Mazen said, ironically. "Oh, did they welcome us."

"How did they welcome you?" Sabry asked, gently prodding him for detail.

"They beat us," Mazen replied after a long pause. "They didn't call us by our names. For months, we were faggot number one, faggot number two." Mazen covered his eyes with his hands, unable to speak and continue his story, and Sabry touched his arm in a gesture of comfort.

Long explained that they heard about the conditions in Egypt only after Sabry e-mailed his office at HRW. Long called Sabry "an icon of invisible courage standing up to a system of oppression."

Sabry explained that he e-mailed every organization in the world that referred to human rights in their title or in their mission statement to tell them about the persecution in Egypt after the Queen Boat raid. He said that HRW was the first organization to reply, and that he was beginning to lose hope for international assistance until he heard from Long.

The news of the Queen Boat arrests broke internationally shortly thereafter, and worldwide, the media followed the detention and trials of the arrested men. Long said that he used the pressure from the outcry to obtain Mazen's temporary release and a refugee visa from France, where Mazen still lives. Sabry came to the United States in 2002 on a visitor's visa, approved before 9/11, and then obtained refugee status here.

With help from Sabry, Mazen, and other gay Egyptians, Long compiled an extensive HRW report documenting the official abuses heaped on gay men and those who were HIV-positive by the Egyptian government. The report included descriptions of a common torture technique, a pseudo-scientific rectal exam performed by government doctors in search of "evidence" of anal sex. It also described the immense amount of resources poured into persecuting gay men, including the use of informants and entrapment on the Internet.

Panel members linked the abuses of the Egyptian government to their overall strategy for remaining in power.

"[Gays and lesbians] are not the only people oppressed, of course ... they are just one of the minorities used to distract people from what they should really be afraid of," Sabry said, explaining that sex stories in the newspaper are regularly used to pull the attention of the Egyptian public away from the corruption of the ruling dictatorship.

While gay Egyptians saw a pause in their persecution after the HRW report, the Egyptian government resumed its arrests and abuses in 2007, Long said.

Audience members were deeply moved by the stories of the Egyptian refugees.

"In a culture where your sexuality is something to be ashamed of ... to say I will stand up and speak about this ... I say thank you. We need you in this world," said Mickey Lim, standing to address the panel after the talk. Lim, the vice president of the nonprofit group Out 4 Immigration, also said that he could relate to the men's stories after growing up in a small town in the Midwest.

"We are doing our job, we are telling people our stories," Mazen said in response. "Now you do yours. Tell people this story."

Mazen appeared in the film Jihad for Love as part of his effort to spread the word about conditions in Egypt. Sabry's film, All My Life, will premiere at Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, later this month.