22 - 28 November 2001
Issue No.561
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 22 - 28 November 2001 Issue No.561 |
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Trying times
Judgement has been handed down at last in the Queen Boat trial
"Look at me," said Ragab. "I'm a child of the country." He is. The heavy, worn carpenter's hands, the splayed metalled teeth, give him away. So it is no surprise that Ragab is utterly bewildered to find himself waiting outside a jail on a chill November night for his brother Shabaan, a 53-year-old bus- boy. Shabaan was detained six months ago at the time of the Queen Boat arrests. He has languished in jail since, publicly accused of debauching habitually and indiscriminately with men. That is not the brother Ragab knows. "My brother is married with children. He was called to the police station to discuss a guest who'd left his house two months before. He never came home. The next I read of him was in the newspapers," Ragab told Al-Ahram Weekly. Ragab's confusion has grown. On 14 November, Shabaan was finally acquitted of all charges at the finale of the trial.
The long wait: defendants in the dock await sentencing in their protracted trial
photo: El-Sayed Abdel-Qader
Officials say Shabaan was arrested on 11 May, along with 54 others, allegedly from the Queen Boat, a bar in a houseboat that bobs enticingly on a sweeping curve of the Nile, and also from other places. A few of the men were later released; the rest have been in jail ever since.
Fifty-two men stood trial in a Cairo state security court, two on charges of contempt of religion and all for committing debauchery. A minor stood trial on the same charges in a juvenile court in September. It was clear from the remarks of the prosecutor, Ashraf Helal, that the "debauchery" of which the men were accused was homosexuality. Helal gave evidence in court which doctors had gathered by "examining" the men while they were in prison, which apparently demonstrated that they were homosexual. Helal also said in court in September, "Egypt will not be used for the defamation of manhood and will not be a hub for gay communities."
The judge sentenced one of the defendants, Sherif Farahat, to five years hard labour for debauchery, contempt of religion, falsely interpreting the Qur'an and promoting deviant ideas.
Another defendant, Mahmoud Ahmed Allam, was sentenced to three years for deriding religion, but was acquitted of debauchery.
Twenty others were sentenced to two years and one man was sentenced to a year for debauchery. The minor received a three-year term. The defendants were tried on the basis of Article 98F of the Penal Code (contempt of religion) and Article 90, law 10 of 1961, which covers prostitution.
The families and friends of those tried reacted with relief or rage, depending on how their loved ones were judged. A woman whose son was acquitted distributed sweets in the court. Meanwhile the friends and family of those found guilty wept and screamed. An Egyptian man whose friend was acquitted told the Weekly, "I'm happy at the result personally. But I think that the sentences are horrible. Everyone knows those found guilty are as innocent as the rest." He added, "I think the government is going to continue to harass gays. There have been more arrests."
Unusually, the men were tried in a state security court, not normally used for "vice" cases. Currently, the only way of commuting sentences tried in a state security court is through special presidential decree. Fawzi El-Haggam, a lawyer for five of the accused, told the Weekly, "As regards the possibility of appealing, there is no formal appeal structure available in a state security court except for presenting a clemency plea to the chief prosecutor who then raises it with the President of the Republic. He can either accept it or reject it." Maha Yusuf, another lawyer also defending, told the Weekly that she and her colleagues would oppose any attempt to abrogate their right to appeal for clemency.
As the Weekly went to press, none of the defendants had been released. El-Haggam explained to the Weekly that under normal Egyptian law, the state must release innocent prisoners 24 hours after judgement is pronounced. But because the trial was held in a state security court, it is subject to the emergency law in operation since 1981. Under that law, innocents can be kept "indefinitely," while "administrative procedures" are carried out.
Egyptian rights organisations have reacted to the trial with dismay, though none has said that arresting people for their sexuality is wrong. Hisham Qassem, head of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, talking to the Weekly about the case, said: "We reject from the start the courts they were referred to. In the mid-1990s, we were told that the Emergency law would apply only to drug dealers and terrorists. These men were neither." He continued, "That they were tried under emergency law reflects the growing incompetence of the police force, which has to resort to emergency courts to make up for procedural failures and incompetent investigations."
From abroad, the world's largest gay Muslim foundation, Al-Fatiha, was appalled. "We have not forgotten the Cairo 52 in the wake of the September 11 tragedy," said Faisal Alam, founder and director of Al-Fatiha. "The voices of freedom and justice must be stronger today than ever before."
Nor are foreign governments content. One senior EU diplomat told the Weekly that her government was concerned at "procedural anomalies. "They were tried in a state security court. That is worrying," she said. Although no major Western government has officially reacted to the ruling yet, several diplomats, particularly from EU countries, spoke to the Weekly about their misgivings. A sign of their concern was the number of diplomats at the court for the final verdict: representatives of the governments of Holland, France, Britain, Italy, America, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark, Sweden and the EU were there. Two senior EU diplomats from different countries independently told the Weekly that the EU would "shortly" issue a statement signed by all 15 member countries. This suggests foreign governments agree with Amnesty International that the case is a human rights issue.
Meanwhile, it is growing cold outside Al-Khalifa prison. Fuelled by tea from a nearby cafe, families wait outside the jail, hoping for a glimpse of loved ones.
Jasper Thornton & Iason Athanasiadis
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