Anti-gay TV journalist sentenced to jail over bath house raid

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Mona Iraqi (top right) filmed the men as they were being arrested

Mona Iraqi (top right) filmed the men as they were being arrested

An Egyptian television journalist who took it upon herself to make the news by targeting the gay community has received a jail sentence of six months.

Mona Iraqi was found guilty of spreading false claims about a group of men after they were arrested by police in December last year.

She broadcast images of the humiliated near-naked men being herded into police trucks following a raid targeting alleged gay sex in a Cairo bath house.

Iraqi proudly claimed to have tipped-off the morality police to the alleged “gay orgy den.”

She posted photos of the incident on her Facebook page and boasted about taking part in the investigation of the venue, which she described as a den of “abnormalities” and “collective perversion.”

Iraqi also claimed that the men were “caught in the act during a group sex party.”

She was widely slammed her for a lack of ethics and was accused of being complicit in destroying people’s lives for the sake of ratings.

The case against the 26 men was ultimately dismissed and they were released.

In addition to her prison sentence, Iraqi was also fined EGP 10,000 (R18,361). She is appealing the court’s ruling and will remain out of jail for now.

While homosexuality is not specifically outlawed in Egypt, gay people are often targeted through immorality or public indecency laws.

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  1. Danie de Waal
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