Legal Framework
While no specific laws criminalise homosexuality in Egypt, ‘public morality’ laws have been applied to prosecute men suspected of engaging in same-sex acts (see below case law for examples). These laws are not applied to prosecute sexual acts between women.
Article 9(c) of Law No. 10/1961 on Combating Prostitution, Incitement and its Encouragement criminalises the ‘habitual practice of debauchery’ [di’araor fujur]. The offence covers consensual sexual acts between men.
Article 38 of the draft Egyptian Constitution provides that ‘Citizens are equal before the law. They have equal public rights and duties without discrimination between them based on sex, gender, origin, language, religion, belief, or any other reason’. However, this constitutional right does not protect against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
2013 proposed amendments to the Draft Constitution are susceptible to contradict the right to equality. Article 10, which entrusts the State with the consolidation of ‘moral values’ of the family, could provide the basis for discrimination against LGBTI people who would be found not to conform to narrow interpretations of the term ‘family’.
There is substantial evidence of the law being enforced in recent years, with LGBT people being frequently subject to arrest, especially since 2013 following an incident in which a pride flag was raised at a concert (see below). Police use a number of methods to arrest gay men, including using dating apps and social media to entrap them. Although arrests frequently result in conviction, reports suggest a high proportion are acquitted on appeal.
There have been consistent reports of discrimination and violence being committed against LGBT people in Egypt, including abuse, harassment, forced anal examinations, and the forced payment of bribes.
2017
Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation issued an order to ban all forms of promotion or sympathy towards the LGBT community on media outlets, as well as the appearance of LGBT people on media outlets.
An Egyptian lawmaker planned to introduce a draft bill that would imprison those engaging in or ‘promoting’ same-sex relations. The bill would introduce sentences of to up to 10 years in prison for people engaging in or promoting same-sex relations. The bill does not appear to have been introduced.
2015
The Supreme Administrative Court ruled in favour of the Ministry of Interior in a case filed by a Libyan citizen to overturn the decision barring him from entering the country. This ruling gave the Ministry the power to deport individuals based on their sexual orientation and practices without being required to prove their guilt in court first. The verdict, issued by the Supreme Administrative Court, went against the recommendation issued by the Court’s Commissioners’ Authority.
Criminal Provisions
2019
LGBT organisation Bedayaa’s Legal Aid Project documented 65 cases of enforcement involving 92 LGBT people in 2019 (76 in 2018) noting that most of these arrests took place “randomly off the street”, though some also came through entrapment on dating apps, and in hotel/house arrests. 50 cases resulted in convictions at first instance, however 42 resulted in acquittal on appeal.
ILGA reported that while consensual same-sex intimacy is not explicitly criminalised, “the law on prostitution and the law against debauchery, among others, have been used liberally to imprison gay men in recent years.”
2018
Bedayaa documented 71 cases of enforcement involving 76 people in 2018.
2017
The US Department of State Human Rights report stated that there was an increase in arrests and harassment of LGBT individuals, particularly after a rainbow flag was raised on September 22 at a concert by the rock band Mashrou Leila (see below). Reports after this incident suggested that more than 85 individuals were arrested in a massive crackdown.
2016
The Human Rights Watch World report stated that a local advocacy group, Solidarity with Egypt LGBTQ+, had recorded 114 criminal investigations involving 274 LGBT individuals launched between the end of 2013 and November 2016, 66 of which involved the authorities’ use of social media.
2014
One blog post, citing Egyptian activists (Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights) as a source, claimed in May that 77 LGBT individuals had been arrested since October 2013.
In September, an Afghani news source, Khaama Press, reported the arrest of seven Egyptian men after they appeared in a video showing the marriage of two gay men. “Medical tests” were ordered for those individuals arrested. The report also alleges that four men were sentenced to eight years imprisonment for debauchery in April, after being found guilty of attending parties, where “homosexual activity” was alleged to have occurred.
2013
In October, 14 suspects were allegedly detained for investigation into allegations that they had committed “homosexual acts” at an Egyptian medical centre.
Asylum Research Centre: Egypt, Query response on the situation and treatment of the LGBTQI+ community (COI Report, 2023)
DW: LGBTQ rights in Egypt: Queer community battles crackdown (News article, 2023)
BBC: How Egyptian police hunt LGBT people on dating apps (News article, 2023)
The Danish Immigration Service: Egypt Situation of LGBT persons (COI Report, 2022)
Human Rights Watch: Egypt: Security Forces Abuse, Torture LGBT People (Report, 2020)
Case Law
AD (Egypt)[2011] NZIPT 800177 (New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal, 15 December 2011) held that a claimant had a well-founded fear of being persecuted upon return to Egypt because he was homosexual: ‘[t]he Tribunal finds that, objectively, on the facts as found, there is a realchance of the appellant being persecuted if returned to Egypt. His predicament is on account of his membership of a particular social group: homosexuals. The appellant is a refugee within the meaning of Article 1A(2) of the Refugee Convention’ (para 68).
Decision 1102877[2012] RRTA 101 (Australian Refugee Review Tribunal, 23 February 2013) ruled that an applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution upon return to Egypt, given the country’s lack of effective state protection (para 96).
Four men were convicted for homosexual conduct under the offence of ‘habitual practice of debauchery’. The conviction, leading to a one-year sentence, was upheld at appeal.
Cairo Court 9 April 2008
Five men were convicted for ‘debauchery’ and sentenced to prison and to pay a fine. A Cairo appeals’ court upheld the maximum three-year sentence for each of them.
Public Attitudes and/or State's Capacity to protect
In its recent report, Egypt: Security Forces Abuse, Torture LGBT People (October 1, 2020) Human Rights Watch documents cases where Egyptian police and National Security Agency officers arbitrarily arrest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and detain them in inhuman conditions, systematically subject them to ill-treatment including torture, and often incite fellow inmates to abuse them. Other recent reports on the situation of LGBTI protection in Egypt include: Egypt’s Denial of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (Human Rights Watch, March 20, 2020), The Crisis of LGBTQ Communities in Egypt: Questions for Ahmed El Hady (The Century Foundation, May 2, 2019) In 2001, Human Rights Watch reported that the Egyptian authorities arrested over 30 men on the ‘Queen Boat’ cruise vessel. The men were convicted for ‘debauchery’ under Law No. 10/1961 and depicted by the Egyptian media as devil-worshippers who practiced perverted activities.
In a 2004 report entitled In a Time of Torture, Human Rights Watch notes that, because homosexual men are at risk of arrest and abuse by police, they are defenceless against abuse by private actors. The report highlights cases of homosexual men who approached the police to report crimes against them, but who were then subjected to blackmail, abuse and even arrest and charge for ‘habitual debauchery’.
In 2007-2008, the Egyptian authorities were criticised by international human rights organisations following the arrest and torture of men suspected of ‘debauchery’ under Law No. 10/1961.In Cairo and Alexandria, men were detained and beaten. To ‘prove’ their homosexuality, they were forcibly subjected to anal examinations and tested for HIV/AIDS without their consent.
Sources concur that attitudes to homosexuality have remained equally, if not more, hostile since the 2011 Arab Spring. While the Muslim Brotherhood has been accused of spreading homophobia to win votes, arrests of those suspected of ‘debauchery’ continue and vigilantes have taken the law into their own hands: in 2012, four gay men were reportedly beaten and detained by ‘moral vigilantes’ when found having sex in a car.The Australian Refugee Review Tribunal’s Research Response EGY17595 notes that gay-related assaults, outside the official realm, are rarely, if ever, reported.
Those who reveal their homosexuality, or are perceived as homosexual, face hostility and stigma. Against this backdrop, many homosexuals fear coming out even to their family members.Those who do often face dire consequences such as ‘imprisonment’ in the family home or even corrective rape by their family members themselves, according to information provided by Amnesty International. Accordingly, the same report notes that a number of gay men and lesbian women in Egypt often enter into ‘cover marriages’ with each other to ease social pressures.The US Department of State 2008 Country report on Egypt also notes that significant social stigma is attached to homosexual persons in society and the workplace.
A noteworthy example of public perceptions of homosexuality is the ruling of the Minsdemeanour Court of Al Sayeda Zainab 7 January 2010 which ordered two journalists to pay a 40,000 Egyptian pound fine each for issuing a report claiming that four Egyptian actors (Nour Al Sharif, Khalid Abul Naga and Hamdi Al Wazir) had engaged in homosexual acts in a Cairo hotel. Actor Nour Al Sharif reported: ‘[n]aming me among homosexuals defamed me and all Egyptian artists’.
Similar views towards homosexuality are held by Egyptian officials. Amnesty International reports: ‘In June 2012, an Egyptian UN representative told the Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association and on Countering Terrorism that sexual orientation was “highly controversial” and “not part of the universally recognized human rights”. He said that the Special Rapporteurs should concentrate on the human rights of “real people”’.
2020
The US Department of State report noted that the government did not make efforts to reduce discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and that authorities did not use anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBT people. Activists reported harassment by police, including assault and forced payment of bribes. The Forensic Medical Authority allegedly conducted forced anal exams on those arrested for ‘debauchery’.
2019
The US Department of State report for 2019 highlighted that “intimidation and the risk of arrest greatly restricted open reporting [of discrimination and harassment] and contributed to self-censorship”.
2017
In September, a Lebanese band, Mashrou Leila, played a concert to an audience of 30,000 in Cairo, led by openly-gay singer Hamed Sinno. Fans waved rainbow flags in support of LGBT rights, leading to a media outcry against homosexuality and perceived ‘immorality’ and to a mass arrest of LGBT individuals.
In October, Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered two activists, Sarah Hegazy and Ahmed Alaa, to be detained for 15 days pending investigation for allegedly joining a banned group aimed at interfering with the constitution. After three months in pre-trial detention, they were released on bail and left the country.
2014
In December, 26 men were arrested in a bathhouse in downtown Cairo’s Ramses area at the behest of television host Mona al-Iraqi, who filmed the ensuing security raid. In January 2015, the Azbakeya Misdemeanors Court acquitted them.
Reports suggest that Egyptian police had begun to use social media websites to identify and target gay men. The local LGBT community issued warnings to avoid using dating apps following rumours that officials were using them to arrest gay men.
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Website
Facebook
Email: info@bedayaa.org
Bedayaa Organization established on July 14, 2020, works to promote sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics’ rights in the Nile Valley area (Egypt & Sudan). In 2016, its Legal Aid Project (LAP) was started to provide legal intervention and advice to LGBT+ community in Egypt. LAP later evolved to became one of the most important programs in Bedayaa. Bedayaa’s objectives are:
- Facilitating access to health services for LGBTIQ+ persons.
- Enabling protection and legal aid services for LGBTIQ+ persons.
- Building capacity of the LGBTIQ+ community members and activists.
- Advocating to challenge/abolish the discriminative laws based on SOGIEC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression and Sex Characteristics).
- Raising awareness on SOGIESC rights issues through campaigning and lobbying.
In 2017, Bedayaa Organization received the Human Rights Defenders Prize of the French Republic.
Facebook
Email: egypt.aqeo@gmail.com ∣ info@afemena.org
Alliance of Queer Egyptian Organizations (AQEO), an alliance of three a nongovernmental, non-profit organizations based in Cairo, Egypt, that work to achieve equality in social rights through advocacy for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) issues in Egypt. Some of the notable reports by AQEO include: Shadow report for the third Universal Periodic Review of the Arab Republic of Egypt Alliance of Queer Egyptian Organizations Human rights violations based on SOGIESC in Egypt.
Country of Origin Specialists
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Last updated August 2023
