- A bill, tabled by controversial MP, Ryad Abdel Sattar looks set to ban homosexual activity in Egypt
- Under the law, anybody engaging in homosexual acts faces up to three years in prison with a one-year minimum term
- Those found to break the law upon release would face up to five years behind bars
- The proposed law also states that anyone who calls for the acceptance of homosexuality should be jailed for between one and three years
The crackdown on Egypt’s LGBT community looks set to continue with a new law designed to criminalize homosexuality already at the draft stage.
The bill, tabled by controversial MP, Ryad Abdel Sattar, contains five articles designed to ban homosexual activity in Egypt.
Under the law, anybody engaging in homosexual acts faces up to three years in prison with a one-year minimum term.
Meanwhile, those found to break the law upon release would face up to five years behind bars.
The proposed law also states that anyone who calls for the acceptance of homosexuality, even if he or she is not a “practitioner of homosexuality,” should be jailed for between one and three years.
The draft also states that any media representative who “promotes” pro-LGBT events would be jailed for three years.
Moreover, the article also noted that organizers or participants in such events would be jailed for the same period.
“It is prohibited to show any sign or symbol of homosexuality or to promote it, all violators will be jailed for no less than one year and no more than three years,” the proposed bill reads.
The proposed law will now be discussed in parliament after being reviewed by speaker Ali Abdel Aal.
The bill has already received support from a number of other Egyptian MPs.
The news comes at a time when Egypt’s LGBT community is facing unprecedented persecution.
The crackdown follows the flying of a rainbow flag at a concert held by Lebanese group Mashrou Leila in Cairo.
Seven people have since been arrested in connection with the incident and many more have since been entrapped by Egyptian security forces on dating apps such as Grindr.
Frequent arrests have led the makers of Grindr to issue a warning to users in Egypt about the dangers of arrest.
Egyptian law does not currently criminalize homosexuality and often uses charges such as debauchery or insulting Islam to imprison members of the LGBT community and their allies.
