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The term Cairo 52 refers to the fifty-two men who were arrested on May 11, 2001, aboard a floating gay nightclub called the Queen Boat, which was moored on the Nile in Cairo, Egypt. The gay rights movement is a collection of loosely aligned civil rights groups, human rights groups, support groups and political activists seeking acceptance, tolerance and equality for non-heterosexual, (homosexual, bisexual), and transgender people - despite the fact that it is typically referred to as the gay rights movement, members also... Image File history File links Gay_flag. ... World laws on homosexuality Same-sex unions in North America. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... The Death of Orpheus In Albrecht Dürers 1494 drawing, the banner hung in the tree reads: Orfeus der erst puseran (Orpheus, the first sodomite). The word puseran(t) derives from the Latin bulgarus from which come also the terms bugger in English and bougre in French. ... May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... A gay Nightclub, also known as a gay club or gay bar (and occasionally queer bar, Lesbian bar, dyke bar, boy bar) is, like other nightclubs, an entertainment venue that usually does its primary business after dark. ... For alternative meanings of Nile, see Nile (disambiguation) The Nile (Arabic: النيل an-nīl), in Africa, is one of the two longest rivers on Earth. ... Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة; transliterated: al-Qāhirah) is the capital city of Egypt (and previously the United Arab Republic) and has a metropolitan area population of approximately 15. ...

Of fifty-four men arrested, fifty were charged with "habitual debauchery" and "obscene behaviour" under Article 9c of Law No. 10 of 1961 on the Combat of Prostitution. Another two were charged with "contempt of religion" under Article 98f of the Penal Code. All fifty-two men pleaded innocent. A sex worker in Germany. ... Innocence is a term that describes the lack of guilt of an individual, with respect for a crime. ...

The Cairo 52 in detention.

According to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), the men were subjected to beatings and forensic examinations to "prove their homosexuality". All 52 men were kept for twenty-two hours a day in two cramped cells with no beds. Forensics or forensic science is the application of science to questions which are of interest to the legal system. ...

The trials of the "Cairo 52" lasted five months and the defendants were vilified in the Egyptian media, which printed their real names and addresses, and branded them as agents against the State. The trials were condemned by international human rights organizations, members of US Congress and the United Nations. Lawyers for the defence argued that the cases should be dismissed on the grounds of false arrest, improper arrest procedures, falsified evidence and police intimidation. Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States of America. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization that describes itself as a global association of governments facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... False arrest is a common law tort, where a plaintiff alleges he or she was held in custody without reasonable cause or an order issued by a court of appropriate jurisdiction. ...

On November 14, 2001, twenty-one of the men were convicted of the "habitual practice of debauchery," one man of "contempt for religion," and another, accused of being the "ringleader," was convicted of both charges and received the heaviest sentence, five years' hard labour. A fifty-third man, a teenager, was tried in juvenile court and was sentenced to the maximum penalty of three years in prison, to be followed by three years of probation. November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 47 days remaining. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Penal labour is a form of the unfree labour. ...

Ashraf Zanati, one of the Cairo 52, who later fled to Vancouver, BC, Canada.

In May of 2002, those convicted were released pending a second trial; both the guilty and not-guilty verdicts were overturned, provoking international outrage. In July of 2002, fifty of the men began a second trial (the other two men had been convicted of contempt for religion, and their sentences were upheld). This trial, held at Qasr-al-Nil Misdemeanors Court in Cairo and presided over by Judge Abdel Karim, the same judge who had presided over the first trial, lasted only fifteen minutes, ending when Karim recused himself. The trial was then moved to September. The retrial ended in March, 2003. Twenty-one men were handed three-year jail sentences and twenty-nine were acquitted. This article refers to the city in British Columbia, Canada. ...

The Cairo 52 were featured in a documentary by After Stonewall Productions, narrated by Janeane Garofalo, entitled Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World [1]. Janeane Garofalo Janeane Garofalo (born September 28, 1964 in Newton, New Jersey), is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist, and radio host on Air America Radio. ...

References

• The cost of being gay in Egypt
• Cairo 52 sentencing today