We sat on the ground and sang the Mashrou’ Leila song “Wa Nueid.” It was the only song that I know by heart, and it was proper for the situation. take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to prevent and provide protection from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, perpetrated for reasons relating to the sexual orientation or gender identity of the victim, as well as the incitement of such acts. Authorities held 11 men in pretrial detention pending investigation, in some cases for months, then sentenced them to prison terms ranging from three months to six years. Appellate courts dismissed charges against eight of the men and reversed their convictions and upheld the convictions of two men but reduced their sentences. In one case, a man spent a year in prison, having been convicted of “debauchery” because he was unable to afford legal counsel to appeal his conviction. Hamed was held in pretrial detention in a prison in Nasr City, east of Cairo, for three months. He said police officers beat him every day, sexually assaulted, and constantly insulted him. At the trial, the court sentenced Hamed to six years in prison. An appeals court reduced his sentence to six months in prison, after which he was released, subject to six more months’ probation:

Four officers then watched him take his clothes off while directing homophobic slurs at him, he said. They placed him in solitary confinement, claiming that it was for his protection:Every day feels like a year. Everyone who enters here is scared of my [trans identity] and harasses me physically and emotionally. The police officers enjoy harassing me. They call me by the name on my ID. The women detained alongside me here tell the officers, “His name is Hossam.” The officers beat and torture these women to make them say that I did things that never happened. We sleep on a rotten and smelly mattress with no covers. The government only sends us bread. But all the food comes from visitors. If I don’t get visitors for three days, I don’t eat for three days. Egypt has repeatedly rejected recommendations by several countries to end arrests and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Most recently, at the United Nations Human Rights Council in March, Egypt refused to recognize the existence of LGBT people, flouting its obligation to protect the rights of all within its jurisdiction without discrimination. Human Rights Watch obtained a statement he wrote from prison February 21, 2020, through a France-based LGBT rights organization: The band speaks mainly about the oppression of LGBT people in the Middle East and its lead singer, Hamed Sinno, is openly gay.

Despite all this, I don’t want to leave Egypt. Sarah Hegazy’s sudden death shook our community in Egypt. She was a rare person. Very few people have been able to change their lives and the entire region like she did. She put queer rights on the leftist movement’s agenda. Her experience reminds me that my voice is needed in my society, I have a role to play and I won’t stop fighting.He was transferred to al-Qanater Men’s Prison in Cairo where he was further interrogated by other police: Salim was arbitrarily detained twice. In early 2019, Salim said, he was meeting a friend at night in Ramses, Cairo, when police officers approached him and demanded to see his ID. Police told Salim they were “cleaning the streets of faggots,” and proceeded to beat him “with all their might,” then handcuffed him and threw him in a police vehicle, he said. They took him to Azbakeya Police Station, and confiscated his phone, money, and personal belongings: They took me to Dokki Police Station, beat me so hard I lost consciousness, then threw me in a cell with other prisoners. They told them: “He’s a faggot” and told me “Careful not to get pregnant.” I stayed one week in that cell, and between the beatings by officers and assaults by other detainees, I thought I would not survive. They also asked if he had raised a rainbow flag at the concert, to which he said yes, and stated that he supports everyone’s rights to express themselves. The officer responded: “Democracy is a sin” and “You will be in prison for a very long time.” At the prosecutor’s office, Hanan was asked about the pictures on her phone. She denied that it was her, but the prosecutor said: “Even the pictures of you dressed as a man incriminate you. You either confess now or you will never leave,” she said. “He was cursing me and screaming at me, but I refused to confess,” she said. The prosecutor then said: “I will keep you detained for three days so you can think about it.”

The Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity include the obligation that all states: After the third day, Salim said, a police officer took him to another room and made him sign a piece of paper without reading it. When he asked what he was signing, the officer threatened him with rape and said: “If you want to leave, sign the papers.” After he signed, Salim said officers threw him in a crowded cell. The next day, the same officers took him to the Azbakeya prosecutor’s office. They said, “If you say anything about what happened, you will never see the sun again.” Alaa said they placed him in a “cage-like cell” overnight. He slept on a wooden plank, handcuffed, was not given food or water, and was escorted to the bathroom and not allowed to close the door. On September 23, 2018 a court in Cairo sentenced Adham to six months in prison and six months’ probation for “debauchery.” On appeal, a court dismissed the charges against him, though they remained on his criminal record until April 2019, preventing him from traveling or securing employment.Sarah Hegazy, who was detained in 2017 after she raised a rainbow flag at the concert, said police tortured her and incited fellow detainees to beat and sexually harass her. She took her own life in June 2020, in exile in Canada. The cases documented in this report, as recent as August 2020, demonstrate that her mistreatment is part of a larger and systematic pattern of abuse against LGBT people in Egypt. After hours of verbal abuse, Hanan said, she stopped responding to questions. Then, officers began beating her: After 3 months, the lawyers appealed the prison sentence I was released with Sara on bail of a thousand pounds each.