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Sentenced to Prison |
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By Rex Wockner International News Report
 Two Egyptian men who allegedly created Web sites
offering to have gay sex for money were sentenced to a
year in prison December 18 by the Boulaq misdemeanor
court.
Sherif Abu Bakr, an engineering student, and Khaled Mohamed al-Sawi, a science student, both in their early 20s, were charged with indecency for allegedly posting nude pictures of themselves and offering sexual services. However, the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission believes the men may have been framed. "People suspected of homosexuality are picked up and accused of prostitution," said the group's Scott Long. "Police use informers and the Internet to entrap victims. ... These latest convictions are deeply suspect." The sentences come in the wake of the November 14 sentences handed down by Cairo's Emergency State Security Court which sent 23 men to between one and five years hard labor for allegedly engaging in gay sex.
Mohamed Abdel Fatah has been convicted of practicing sexual immorality. An appeals court decided he had been unable to distinguish "right from wrong." "This is a tremendous victory for Mohamed and his family," said IGLHRC's Long. "Maybe the Egyptian government is starting to get the message that the arrest and torture of people for their presumed homosexuality must stop." |
