Debauched, perverted, sick, deviant... just some of the words used to describe gays in Egypt amid a police crackdown on homosexuality after the rainbow flag was raised at a concert recently
Homosexuality not illegal
Homosexuality is not illegal in the North African country but the number of arrests of suspects is mounting, according to AFP. The crackdown comes after an open-air concert in Cairo on September 22 by Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila, when the flag representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community was raised
Snooping on an app
In the late 1990s, the police stepped up the use of two old laws—a 1950 anti-prostitution law and a 1961 law against “debauchery”—to arrest and charge the practising LGBT community, according to the Guardian
The police have now started to use apps like social networking apps like Grindr to gather photographic “evidence,” arrange meetings, and entrap men. And on September 29, the flag-raising incident was the topic for a sermon at Al-Azhar mosque, linked to the highest Sunni religious authority in Egypt
‘Shameful disease’
The band, whose lead singer Hamed Sinno is openly gay, issued a statement on its official Facebook page denouncing the arrests. Already banned in Jordan, the band will now not be able to perform in Egypt following statements by the conservative musicians’ syndicate. In another fallout from the concert, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation said recently it was banning “promoting homosexuality” in all Egyptian media, calling it a “shameful disease”