Paris, 31 August 2001

Dear Mr President,

The FIDH would like to bring before the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention the case of 52 Egyptians, arrested on May 11, 2001 in Cairo and held in custody since that date.

We have indeed serious reasons to fear that they have only been arrested and detained because of their sexual orientation. This situation is a blatant violation of the principles of freedom of conscience, of non-discrimination and of the right to private life, all guaranteed in international documents, which Egypt has ratified.

These 52 men were arrested in the evening of May, 11 during a police raid in a night-club called the Queen Boat much visited by homosexuals.

They were conducted to a Cairo police station where they were not given the opportunity to contact their relatives or have access to a lawyer. Many concordant sources have reported that they have been ill treated, or even tortured during their first detention period - up to this day, these acts of ill-treatment have not been the object of in-depth investigation by the authorities.

The day after their arrest, these men have been presented before the members of the Prosecutor Office and questioned, still without the presence of lawyer. They have then been maintained in detention for approximately six weeks without being advised of the exact charges held against them.

Their trial started on July, 18 before an exception court, the High Security Court, in a context of violent smear campaigns organised by the media. This Court has been created by virtue of the state of emergency law and no appeal can be placed against its decision.
Even though Egyptian law does not explicitly forbid homosexual behaviours, everything leads to think that it is the assumed homosexuality of these people that gave an excuse for the practices and measures taken by the authorities.

50 of these people are prosecuted pursuant to law n°10/1961 for 'obscene behaviour', and accused of 'making homosexual practices a fundamental principle of their group, in order to create social discords', and of 'committing vice with men'. Two others, Mr Cherif Farahat and Mr Mahmout Ahmed Allam, are prosecuted pursuant to article 98 (f) of the Egyptian Penal Code for 'contempt to religion' and may be punished by a five years imprisonment sentence.

The FIDH deems the arrest and detention of these 52 Egyptians arbitrary since they only aim to sanction their sexual behaviour. Further, the FIDH considers that these facts are grave violations of dispositions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that they are outside the legal framework of international documents ratified by Egyptian authorities. In particular, these facts take place in grave violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees in its articles 17, 18, 19 and 26 the principles of freedom of conscience and opinion, of non-discrimination and of the right to private life. This instrument further forbids arbitrary arrest and detention in its article 9 and guarantees, in its article 10, that people deprived of their freedom should be treated with dignity.

In regard of these information, the FIDH would like to ask the Working Group to give diligent attention to this matter of extreme gravity and asks the Working Group to question the Egyptian State about this situation as soon as possible.

The FIDH remains at your disposal for any further information, and hope that you will consider this matter with vigilant consideration.

Yours faithfully,

Sidiki KABA
FIDH President