The gay community in Egypt is on high alert after a series of raids on bathhouses and arrests.
The bathhouse raids are the latest in a serious of crackdowns on the GLBT community in Egypt.
Foreign Policy reports from Cairo on the rather bleak situation for Egypt. ‘There are now more than 100 members of the LGBT community who have been arrested on similar charges since last summer’s military takeover, according to rights advocates working on the issue. Many of them have been sentenced to long prison terms in rushed trials, with little legal representation.’
‘Captured on hidden camera, Monday’s late-night raid on downtown Cairo’s “Sea Door” bathhouse was the largest mass arrest of men suspected of practicing homosexuality in Egypt in over a decade.’
The situation is growing increasingly more dire for the gay community in Egypt. As a fiercely conservative, largely Muslim society, Egypt has never openly accepted gay or transgender people and the increased raids are seen as being popular with the Egyptian public and a way for the current regime to shore up political support.
Last month, express reported on three Egyptian men who appeared in a mock ‘gay wedding video’ who were sentenced to 3 years behind bars for ‘spreading indecent images and inciting debauchery.’
Article | Levi Joule.
