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NEWS ARCHIVE:x March 2003x February 2003x January 2003x December 2002x November 2002x October 2002x September 2002x August 2002x June 2002x May 2002x April 2002x March 2002x February 2002x January 2002x December 2001x Previous Monthsx orx Extensive Media Reports Menu. Take Two ? Fathi "Heinrich" Surrour's pretty image is compromised by zat pissed-off look. EGYPT'S PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ACCUSES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT OF "MEDDLING" IN EGYPT'S AFFAIRS. Posted 21 April 2003. Egypt's parliament speaker Fathi Sorour has written a public letter addressed to Pat Cox, president of the European Parliament, accusing it of unjust intervention in Egyptian affairs. Presumably he thinks Egypt has a right to 1. Arrest consenting adults for what they do in private. 2. Beat them up, intimidate them and force them to sign confessions. 3. Expose them to media ridicule and trial by media. 4. Allow them to be constantly intimidated, beaten, tortured and subject to abuse by guards and inmates inside the prison. AND AT THE SAME TIME TO ASK FOR MONEY FROM EUROPE TO FINANCE HIS GOVERNMENT'S REPULSIVE POLICIES. The following is a copy of an Associated Press report that appeared in the Kansas City Star and many other media around the world. Egypt criticizes EU on rights resolution By MAGGIE MICHAEL Associated Press CAIRO, Egypt -Egypt's parliament speaker accused the European Parliament of unwarranted meddling Friday after it passed a resolution accusing the Egyptian government of persecuting gays. "No one has the right to give lessons to the other," Ahmed Fathi Sorour wrote in an open letter to Pat Cox, president of the European Union assembly, carried by Egypt's official MENA news agency. Sorour called the April 10 resolution "an arbitrary judgment" and accused the lawmakers of "oversimplifying dangerous issues." Other cultures must "respect the right of the people (Egyptians) to choose freely their legal system, and to protect their religious and cultural values," he wrote. A criminal court sentenced 21 men to three years in jail last month on charges of practicing debauchery. They were arrested in a May 2001 police raid on a Nile boat restaurant on suspicion they had taken part in a gay sex party. Another 14 men were convicted Thursday and given prison sentences of one to three years on similar charges, according to one of their lawyers. Human rights groups and Western diplomats have condemned Egypt's harsh treatment of homosexuality. The European Parliament resolution called on Egyptian authorities to stop persecuting gays and to prohibit discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. Sorour insisted that the Egyptian criminal code does not punish "private sexual relationships," but only "public practice or contempt of religion." Homosexuality is not explicitly referred to in the Egyptian legal system, but a wide range of laws covering obscenity, prostitution and public morality are punishable by jail terms. FOURTEEN MORE MEN RECEIVE MAXIMUM PRISON SENTENCE. Posted 18 April 2003 We have just seen this story posted today on the Advocate news site. To connect to the Advocate site please click on advocate.com Egypt sentences 14 to jail A Cairo court on Thursday sentenced 14 men to prison terms ranging from one to three years on charges of homosexual activities, one of their lawyers said. They were also given fines and will be monitored by police for one year after their release, Helmi Al-Rawi told the Associated Press. Three of the defendants were sentenced to three years, eight got two years, and three got one year, said Al-Rawi, who defended some of the men during the monthlong trial. He added that the men were sentenced on charges of "practicing debauchery." Two defendants were acquitted. The first defendant was arrested in a rented apartment in February. After Egyptian police received a tip regarding the defendant, his telephone was bugged for more than one month, which led to the arrest of the other defendants. Human rights groups and the international community have condemned Egypt for putting the men on trial because of their sexual orientation. Although homosexuality is not explicitly referred to in the Egyptian legal code, suspects are charged under a wide range of laws covering obscenity, prostitution, and public morality; violation of these laws is punishable by jail terms. EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR LYING SAYS U.S. CONGRESSMAN. Posted 15 April 2003. The following news item appeared on the 365gay.com site. Frank Calls On Gays To Oppose 'Brutal Regime' in Egypt by Paul Johnson 365Gay.com Newscenter Washington Bureau Chief April 14, 2003 6:14 p.m. ET/+5GMT/-3PT (Washington, D.C.) Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass) accusing the Egyptian ambassador to the US of lying about the treatment of gays in that country. The out congressman Monday released a letter sent last week to Ambassador Nabil Fahmy that says Frank believes the ambassador lied to him last year when he told Frank and other congressmen that Egypt was not targeting and persecuting gay men. The congressmen had complained to Fahmy about the arrests and subsequent trial of 52 men in a gay club on a Nile riverboat. (story) Since Fahmy's denial that there was a crackdown on gay men in Egypt authorities have intensified their actions against gay men, raiding private homes and tracking down and entrapping gay men who try to meet people over the Internet. Last week, the European Union called on Egypt to end its persecution of gays and Amnesty International issued an urgent global appeal on behalf of a 26-year-old man who was sentenced to 15 months in prison after arranging to have sex with a man he had met through a popular gay website. (story) Frank's latest letter to the Egyptian ambassador states in part, "Based on the recent convictions and the continued arrests of gay men in Egypt . . .I can come to no other conclusion than that you lied to me." "I feared then that the ambassador was lying," Frank added, "but I was somewhat encouraged at the time that he felt the need to deny any policy of intolerance towards gays, but in the face of such continued and blatant oppression of men who happen to be gay, I wanted the ambassador to know that his fundamental dishonesty is now evident." Frank is also urging national gay rights organizations to lobby Congress to curb international assistance to Egypt. "It would not be practical to seek a total cessation of aid to Egypt," said Frank, "particularly that aid we provide annually to Egypt for the constructive role it played in the late seventies when it signed a peace treaty with Israel. But the Egyptian government has other goals it is seeking that require congressional approval, such as weapons sales, trade preferences and in other areas. Egypt must understand that it cannot continue to be so oppressive towards people's human rights and expect us to support these additional requests." The Egyptian Embassy did not return calls Monday from 365Gay.com EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TELLS EGYPT TO STOP IT'S PERSUCUTION OF GAY MEN. Posted 10 April 2003. The following email was received today [ 10 April ] from a Radical Party Official working for MEPs in the European Parliament. We are still working to obtain the text of the actual resolution. Hopefully this will be posted very soon. ** High Priority ** EN and IT versions follow: PRESS RELEASE BY RADICAL MEPs GAY RIGHTS/EGYPT: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES URGENCY RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN EGYPT AFTER RADICAL MEPs INITIATIVE The EP has approved this afternoon an urgent resolution on human rights in Egypt signed by 6 political groups. The EP recommendation asks to the Egyptian authorities to assure that persecution against homosexuals stops and that those sentenced in the Queen Boat trial are freed. The urgency was drafted after Radical MEPs Maurizio Turco and Marco Cappato, together with Ottavio Marzocchi (Radicals), took the initiative to collect signatures of colleagues to ask for a debate and resolution in the EP a few weeks ago. The text of the resolution is in given below. JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION pursuant to Rule 50(5) of the Rules of Procedure by - Lennart Sacrédeus on behalf of the PPE-DE Group - Michael Cashman, Anna Terrón i Cusí, Margrietus J. van den Berg and Gianni Vattimo on behalf of the PSE Group - Baroness Sarah Ludford, Frédérique Ries and Cecilia Malmström on behalf of the ELDR Group - Alima Boumediene-Thiery, Hélène Flautre and Danielle Auroi on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group - Luigi Vinci, Yasmine Boudjenah, Marianne Eriksson, Pernille Frahm, Esko Olavi Seppänen and Alexandros Alavanos on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group - Maurizio Turco, Marco Cappato, Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Olivier Dupuis, Marco Pannella and Benedetto Della Vedova replacing the motions by the following groups: - ELDR (B5-0212/2003), - PSE (B5-0215/2003), - PPE-DE (B5-0216/2003), - Verts/ALE (B5-0219/2003), - GUE/NGL (B5-0224/2003), on human rights violations in Egypt European Parliament resolution on human rights violations in Egypt The European Parliament, - having regard to its previous resolutions on human rights in Egypt, in particular its resolutions of 14 June 2001, 4 July 2002 and 5 September 2002, having regard to its resolution of 29 November 2001 on the conclusion of an association agreement with Egypt, having regard to Article 2 of the EU-Egypt Euro-Mediterranean Agreement, now open for ratification by the parties, whereas in November 2002 the UN Committee for Human Rights issued several recommendations after having examined the periodic report by Egypt on its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including a call for Egypt to 'refrain from sanctioning private sexual relations between consenting adults', having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Egypt is a party, A. whereas, following the retrial of 50 of the 52 gay men arrested in Cairo last year, on 15 March 2003 21 persons were sentenced to three years' imprisonment and forced labour, while 29 were acquitted, B. whereas the new sentences are generally harsher, since sentences for those originally convicted were extended to three years, the maximum sentence allowed under Egyptian law, C. whereas in recent months the Egyptian police has arrested many individuals suspected of being homosexuals, accusing them of debauchery, despite the fact that Egyptian law does not penalise any sexual orientation as a criminal offence, D. whereas many people have been arrested, and some remain in detention, on the basis of Egypt's state-of-emergency law after mass anti-war demonstrations in Cairo were quelled by the police, E. whereas a Greek citizen, Kostas Kastanias, remains in an Egyptian prison in very poor health and the Egyptian Government turned down the request by the EU Spanish Presidency that he be transferred to Greece, 1. Underlines the importance of Egypt and EU-Egypt relations for the stability and development of the Euro-Mediterranean area; 2. Stresses that respect for human rights, including freedom of information, speech and association, is a fundamental value enshrined in the EU-Egypt Association Agreement and reaffirms the importance of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership for promoting the rule of law and fundamental freedoms; 3. Is concerned at the conviction of a host of individuals in Egypt because of their sexual orientation and has confidence in the Egyptian courts that the judgment will be set aside; 4. Calls on the Egyptian authorities to call for a halt to all prosecutions of citizens on grounds of homosexuality and to protect their individual freedoms and insists that particular attention be paid to the issue of prohibiting discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation; 5. Asks the Commission and the Council to voice serious concern to the Egyptian authorities regarding the wave of arrests of homosexuals and the sentences handed down in March 2003 for the 21 Egyptian citizens and to follow closely any further developments in those cases; 6. Welcomes the decision of the Egyptian Court of Appeal to overthrow the verdict of the State Security Court and acquit human-rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim; 7. Urges Egyptian authorities to guarantee the right to collective peaceful expression and to prevent all forms of harassment against demonstrators and detainees and to ensure that persons held are given proper legal protection; 8. Draws attention to the Coptic Christian community in Egypt as an important minority which should be fully respected and represented in Egyptian society; 9. Urges the Egyptian authorities to allow, on humanitarian grounds, the transfer of Mr Kastanias to Greece, as requested during the EU Spanish Presidency; 10. Stresses that Article 2 of the Association Agreement includes a clause demanding that human rights and democratic principles be respected; 11. Urges the Council and the Commission, in this connection, to develop and strengthen democracy programmes for Egypt in the framework of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, with a view to supporting Egyptian civil society; 12. Instructs its Delegation for Relations with the Mashreq Countries to address the issue of human rights in Egypt at its next meeting with Egyptian parliamentarians and to involve representatives of civil society in the process; 13. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Member States and the Government and Parliament of Egypt. |
