May 2024
Mesahat Newsletter May 2024
In This Newsletter:
1. Gallows were found inside the house of a citizen in Khartoum State.
2. On the collapse of the health sector in light of the ongoing war in Sudan.
3. Queen Boat 23rd Anniversary.
4. Cairo 52 publishes its annual report on the activities of the Legal Support Unit.
5. Thousands of Sudanese refugees flee the Olala camp in Ethiopia due to deteriorating security conditions.
6. Elon Musk plans to shut down Starlink in Sudan...and warnings of the consequences.
7. A number of sexual assault complaints against Uber drivers.
8. Rape incidents in Sudan are increasing, and the geographic scope is expanding.
9. 110 displaced Sudanese died due to hunger, acute malnutrition, and lack of medicine.
10. Meta fails to stop hate speech on its platforms.
Gallows were found inside the house of a citizen in Khartoum State
A circulating video clip documents the discovery of gallows inside the house of a citizen in Khartoum State. This is what the residents of Khartoum State in Sudan return to, not knowing what had happened in their houses in their absence. This also shows the amounts of injuries and unidentified bodies present in those areas. The inaccessibility of this information also means the inaccessibility of information about communities of sexual and gender diversity in conflict areas.
More details: https://bit.ly/4b0NXu1
On the collapse of the health sector in light of the ongoing war in Sudan
Sudan has long suffered from the fragility of its health system, and this ongoing conflict has led to the collapse of this system. In this article, the doctor describes the need for all possible medical aid. When people think about medical needs during conflicts, images of wounded people hit by bombs and bullets often come to mind. However, according to the article, there are increasing numbers of medical emergencies resulting from complications of untreated chronic diseases. All of this shows the deterioration of the health sector and access to necessary treatments, especially treatments for people of sexual and gender diversity that are sensitive to time and treatment.
More details: https://bit.ly/455HSLo
Queen Boat 23rd Anniversary
The month of May 2024 witnessed the 23rd anniversary of the Queen Boat Incident, also known as the Cairo 52 incident, where in March 2001, Egyptian forces arrested a number of patrons of the Queen Boat nightclub on the Nile, in addition to several other raids throughout Greater Cairo, and charged them with habitual immorality, incitement to it, and contempt of the heavenly religion. This was followed by Egyptian newspapers defaming those arrested by publishing their photos and information, including their full names, place of residence, and places of work, while portraying them as an organization aiming to “spread perversion and devil worship,” which prompted the defendants to go to court wearing white masks that they had cut from prison clothes in an attempt to stop the defamation. This is considered the first major case in which individuals are tried on charges based on suspicion of their sexual orientation, which marked an era of Egyptian security prosecution of individuals from the LGBT community on the basis of their sexual orientation.
More details: https://bit.ly/4e5rBKf
Cairo 52 publishes its annual report on the activities of the Legal Support Unit
The Legal Unit of Cairo 52 Legal Research Institute produced a report that provides an overview of the unit’s activities in 2023. The report is divided into three sections, each of which focuses on a critical department: Legal Aid, Legal Consultation, and Strategic Litigation. The Legal Unit aims to provide high-quality legal services to improve the human rights situation of individuals facing restrictions on their sexual and bodily freedoms, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ people and sex workers. The report highlights the following key findings:
1- In 2023, the legal unit assisted a total of 56 individuals across its various departments. Of these, 20 received legal representation in courts, 34 received legal consultation, and two were involved in strategic litigation.
2- Among the 20 individuals who received legal representation in courts, 50% were acquitted, 15% received suspended sentences, 25% had their sentences reduced on appeal, and 10% are still awaiting their appeal.
3- All 20 individuals were arrested through digital means, highlighting the increasing importance of digital evidence in legal cases. Technical reports utilizing advanced technology, such as facial recognition and metadata analysis, were submitted to examine the evidence.
4- New interpretations have emerged that explicitly criminalize homosexuality under the Cybercrime Law 175/2018, in contrast to the de facto situation under the Anti-Sex Work Law 10/1961.
5- Limited access to justice remains a challenge for queer individuals who are victims of gang violence and Blackmail. Many beneficiaries who approached us were hesitant to pursue legal action due to the potential risks of prosecution by authorities if their sexual orientation or gender identity were revealed when filing criminal complaints against their abusers.
6- In two cases, transnational aggression was observed when the families of two cisgender queer women, who had fled Egypt to escape domestic violence and sought asylum abroad, were traced with the assistance of Egyptian embassies in the respective countries in which the two women sought refuge. The report as a whole is a quick overview of developments in the legal status of people of sexual and gender diversity in Egypt during the year 2023. It is also an important reference for the development of the use of various legal texts to prosecute people of sexual and gender diversity.
More details: https://bit.ly/3VlvVxL
Thousands of Sudanese refugees flee the Olala camp in Ethiopia due to deteriorating security conditions
A circulating video documenting the escape of thousands of Sudanese refugees from the “Olala” camp in Ethiopia due to the deteriorating security conditions raises questions about the conditions of Sudanese people in the various refugee camps, the humanitarian conditions in the various camps in which the war forces refugees to take refuge, and the conditions of refugees in various regions of the world without adequate coverage to obtain basic aid. The large numbers of refugees include people of sexual and gender diversity experiencing these inhumane conditions.
More details: https://bit.ly/3V57ALi
Elon Musk plans to shut down Starlink in Sudan...and warnings of the consequences
The imminent termination of Starlink services threatens communications services for millions of civilians trapped in the war, as relief groups rely on satellite services to coordinate their efforts. Any suspension of communications services will affect the ability of humanitarian workers to provide basic services and reach civilians, and will even exacerbate the already deteriorating economic situation.
More details: https://bit.ly/3X5yqpp
A number of sexual assault complaints against Uber drivers
The month of May 2024 witnessed several incidents of assault against women users of smart transportation services in Egypt, the most notable of which occurred to users of Uber, like the death of Habiba Al-Shamaa in March 2024, who jumped from a car she had rented through the Uber app after the vehicle driver sprayed aromatic substances in the vehicle. He refused to stop and disturbed her phone conversations with her mother, which caused her to panic for fear that he was intending to kidnap her. This same driver had previously received several complaints of harassment from other women, and the company did not take any action against the driver at that time. In May 2024, Sally Awad, a sports coach, posted on her Instagram page the details of her sister being subjected to an attempted rape by a driver while she was travelling in a car she had rented through the Uber app from the Fifth Settlement, heading to Sheikh Zayed, at exactly 9:56 pm, where Sally requested a car for her sister, the driver sent a contact number, after which Sally was surprised that the person who answered the phone was a woman. According to what Sally said, a minute later she received another message on the Uber app that read, “I have arrived.” When the car arrived, Sally confirmed the driver’s name and the color of the car, adding that as the driver started moving, he asked her sister to cancel the trip and transfer the amount to be paid to his wallet.
Sally said that her sister refused to cancel the trip, which angered the driver. The last call between Sally and her sister was at 10:10 p.m. After that call she lost contact with her sister completely and she stopped responding to her, Sally added. Sally was surprised then that the trip had been canceled, adding that at 10:20 p.m. she received 3 calls from 3 different drivers from their personal numbers, and one of the drivers asked her if she wanted him to go to her to look for her sister, which made “Sally” confused and wondering. “How did he know that?”
Sally explained that at 10:36 p.m. she received a call from her sister’s phone, but the speaker was a man, which made Sally scream, saying, “Where is my sister?” The caller answered, “I found your sister in the desert in the third settlement.” After she entered a hysterical state, Sally answered “Give me my sister, I want to hear her voice.” The caller replied, “She can’t speak,” which terrified Sally, who asked, “Was she killed?” “Please tell me, Was she hurt?” Regarding the details of the incident, “Sally” said: “The Uber driver kidnapped my sister and took her to the third settlement in a place where there was no other person.” The driver left the vehicle under the pretext of drinking the water he kept in the trunk of the car, which worried the victim and made her suspect that the driver was trying to kidnap her. “Sally” added: “My sister felt anxious and wanted to leave while he was outside, but he left the Car trunk open and opened the back door and pushed her inside. He was holding a knife and put it on her neck while saying to her, ‘Do you see this? Do you see this? I’ll kill you’ And he began to tell her, “Don’t scream and don’t move,” and he assaulted her and tried to rape her.”
Sally explained that her sister resisted and held the knife with her right hand tightly to prevent the driver from killing her, which caused her to suffer a severe injury to her hand, adding, “She didn’t give up resisting and trying to hit him with her feet, and she also tried to open the door next to her head while her hand was bleeding.” The assailant fled after cargo vehicles passed by the accident site, which allowed the survivor to escape. The captains of the cargo vehicle communicated with her sister to take her to the hospital. The family reported the Uber driver, who was arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping and rape, which is being tried on the court now. This incident was followed a few days ago by a complaint from another woman, where while she was traveling in a car she had rented through the Uber application, the driver harassed her. These incidents reveal a lot about Uber's disregard for all security and safety standards for women, as the vehicles do not have cameras and there is no distress button in the app. The incidents also revealed that Uber does not verify the identities of the drivers and their data, and does not implement the security and safety regulations related to the sudden periodical drug tests, not to mention the company’s intention not to take any measures when users submit complaints of harassment and assault by the app’s users. Smart transportation apps were previously considered a safer alternative for women and people of sexual and gender diversity, especially trans women, as they were considered safer for them than public transportation or taxis, but these recent incidents reveal that the company’s neglect of women’s complaints and their disregard for security and safety standards have made it an unsafe option for transportation for women and people of sexual and gender diversity.
More details: https://bit.ly/3xaorEt
Rape incidents in Sudan are increasing, and the geographic scope is expanding
Amira Othman, head of the “No to Women’s Oppression” initiative, warned that “the number of raped women in Sudan is increasing on a daily basis, and over a larger geographical area, and that they are being used as weapons in war.” She called in a statement to the Arab World News Agency to work to “get rid of the social stigma of women who are subjected to rape.”
More details: https://bit.ly/453ka2p
110 displaced Sudanese died due to hunger, acute malnutrition, and lack of medicine
66 children, 38 elderly people, and 6 pregnant women died as a result of hunger, acute malnutrition, and lack of medicine in Kalma camp in South Darfur state, western Sudan. This camp, located in the city of Nyala, which is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, is one of the most crowded camps with displaced people who took refuge there after the outbreak of war in the country in April 2023. The number of displaced people in it is estimated at more than 90,000. The General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur warned of the worsening situation, which will lead to an increase in cases in the coming days.
More details: https://bit.ly/3RcxZFT
Meta fails to stop hate speech on its platforms
GLAAD launched its report on the strategy of social media platforms during the year 2024, in which it said that the companies Meta and X (formerly Twitter) had failed to combat hate speech and protect LGBTQ+ users from threats and defamation. The report paints a general picture about the security and safety of LGBTQ+ people on social media platforms. It sheds light on how social media platforms turn into amplifiers for hate speech and ignorance, through algorithms that push content based on interaction, not accuracy of information, which may encourage the commission of hate crimes, according to GLAAD.
More details: https://bit.ly/459tgdG