CAIRO (AP) – An Egyptian court on Monday acquitted 26 men arrested in a televised raid last month by police looking for gays at a Cairo public bathhouse, a ruling that set off deafening cheers and jubilation inside the courtroom as some of the defendants uncovered their faces and wept openly in relief.
Others, however, kept their faces hidden behind jacket hoods and scarves, still traumatized by the humiliation they and their families had endured during the highly publicized case, which caught the public’s attention after a pro-government TV network aired scenes of half-naked men being pulled from the bathhouse by police during the Dec. 7 raid.
Monday’s ruling was a climax in Egypt’s ongoing crackdown on the gay community, and also recently on atheists – a crackdown that goes hand in hand with a wider campaign against all forms of dissent and diversity in a country gripped by rising nationalism and a militant insurgency.
Same-sex relations are not explicitly prohibited under Egyptian law but homosexuality is a social taboo in the conservative, Muslim-majority country and same-sex marriage is unheard of. Only in recent years have movies and fiction included gay characters.
“They destroyed our lives. God rescued us,” said one of the defendants, who would not give his name to protect his privacy, as he broke into tears after the verdict.