#ELYOUM ELSAB TRIAL#

This is the first highly publicized arrest of allegedly gay or trans people since the January acquittal of 26 men arrested in a raid on a working-class bathhouse that was featured in a television broadcast purporting to tell 'the whole story of the dens for spreading AIDS in Egypt.' Last week, an April trial was scheduled in a defamation suit against the reporter who made the program, Mona Iraqi, and the owner of the station that broadcast it, Tarek Nour of the Al-Qahera Wal Nas channel. Major General Magdy Moussa of the Morality Police told Al-Youm el-Saba that the seven arrested Thursday were part of a 'network for practicing debauchery' and had been targeted through social media. He claimed police had evidence the group had published naked photos, and said the government created fake pages online to catch 'perverts.' They were arrested at a nightclub in Cairo, where police say they had arranged to meet men with whom they intended to have sex. These arrests fit the template for busts of many allegedly gay men and trans women under a crackdown that began after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in 2013, and which the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights estimates has ensnared more than 150 people.

Elyoum elsab