Egyptian Newspaper Banned for 'Accusing' Actors of Being Gay

A newspaper in Egypt faces lawsuits and banning after claiming that several actors were arrested in a police action against a gay prostitution ring.

Weekly publication Al Balagh Al Gadid ran a story in which it was reported that three actors--Nour El Sherif, Khaled Aboul Naga, and Hamdi El Wazir--had been detained by authorities for questioning after police allegedly took action against a "network" of gay prostitutes operating at a Cairo hotel, reported the Los Angeles Times in an Oct. 7 article.

The police action was said to have taken place last month, but the article said that police insisted no such action took place and the purported arrests were never made.

The actors moved to sue the paper for printing the story, naming the chief editor, the executive editor, and a reporter in the suit, the article said.

But the paper offered a different account, asserting that the matter had been hushed up thanks to bribes paid by the actors.

In addition to its legal woes, the publication has also been banned by the Egyptian Higher Council for Journalism, the article reported.

Actor Nour El Sherif was quoted in the article as saying, "Naming me among other homosexuals defamed me and all Egyptian artists.

"The Journalists' Syndicate has to be firm with anyone trying to insult the dignity of Egyptian artists," continued El Sherif.

The article reported that in 2003, the Egyptian government cracked down on gays, with the courts sending 21 people to jail to discourage "immoral" practices.

A June 6, 2008 Bay Area Reporter article also carried a story of gays being persecuted by Egyptian officials, relating how men going to a cruise ship called the Queen Boat that operated on the Nile and offered a disco where gay men could congregate.

In 2001, fifty-two men were arrested in connection with the Queen Boat, their apprehension and convictions resting on justifications as slender as whether they drank Coca Cola and what color undergarments they wore.

Two Egyptian refugees shared their stories in the article. Filmmaker Maher Sabry said that he had struggled to come to assistance of a friend, identified only as Mazen, who was arrested after stepping out of his Cairo hotel in nice attire--in itself enough to raise suspicion that he might be gay. Mazen was then detained for more than a year without going on trial.

During his captivity, Mazen said, he and other detainees suspected of being gay were beaten and addressed as "faggot number one, faggot number two" rather than by their names.

As Mazen was being held, Sabry sought to contact any and all GBT organizations that might come Mazen's aid. Finally, Sabry was able to generate enough interest and international response that he got Mazen out of prison and secured papers for him; now Mazen is a refugee living in Paris, the article reported.

Sabry, tool left Egypt, relocating to the San Francisco area.

The article said that the two, along with other gay Egyptians, had provided assistance in the preparation of a report on human rights abuses perpetrated in Egypt against gay men, including rectal probes meant to uncover signs of anal sex that serve as a form of torture.

The report also detailed the massive efforts that authorities put into attempts to entrap gay men, including efforts to track and lure them out using the Internet.

Sabry said that GLBT Egyptians "are not the only people oppressed" by a government determined to exploit sexual minorities and others to maintain its hold.

Sabry said that gays in Egypt "are just one of the minorities used to distract people from what they should really be afraid of," namely, an oppressive and autocratic regime.