Egypt arrests seven for “gay debauchery”
The Egyptian authorities continue to target members of the LGBT community, with seven more people arrested on Thursday for so-called gay debauchery.
The Egyptian media identified the victims as “transsexuals.” The site Video Youm7 posted a video showing the seven people, although their faces were blurred out.
The individuals were reported to be part of a “network practising debauchery” on social media and were accused of posting nude photos online.
Reports said that the authorities created fake social media pages in order to entrap the suspects. They were eventually arrested after they were lured by police to a meeting in a Cairo nightclub.
The arrests follow a series of recent high profile cases.
In January, 26 men were acquitted of charges of debauchery and of committing “indecent public acts” following last year’s raid on a Cairo bathhouse, broadcast by the Egyptian media.
In November, eight men who appeared in an apparent gay wedding video were jailed for three years. Their sentence was later reduced to one year by an appeals court.
While homosexuality is not specifically outlawed in Egypt, gay people are often targeted through immorality and public indecency laws.
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