Egypt’s gay community fears government crackdown

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/17/egypts-gay-community-fears-government-crackdown/



Egypt’s gay community fears government crackdown
By Patrick Kingsley, The Guardian
Thursday, April 17, 2014 8:51 EDT

Egypt’s gay community fears it is the latest target of the country’s authoritarian government, after a series of recent raids on gay people.

Activists interviewed by the Guardian said they had collectively documented up to nine raids across the country since October 2013 – an unusually high rate of arrests. Most significantly, at least seven raids have seen people arrested at home rather than at parties or known meeting places, raising concerns that the community is facing the start of a targeted crackdown.

The latest and most concerning raid saw four men seized from their east Cairo apartment on 1 April, within hours of signing the lease, according to activists. Within a week, the four were given jail-terms of up to eight years – sentences unusual for both their length and the speed of their application.

Interviewees warned against exaggerating the oppression levelled at a flourishing underground gay community. But almost all agreed the recent arrests had frightened and perplexed many of its members.