TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Trans woman held in Egypt at risk of 'sexual violence': Rights groups
Malak al-Kashef, 19, was arrested this week on charges of joining a "terrorist" group and misusing social media to commit a crime with the aim of disrupting public order, her lawyer Amr Mohamed said.
Change Size
Amnesty International activists perform a flash mob on July 13, 2016, in Rome's Pantheon square to remember late Italian student Giulio Regeni and other victims following their last report. The badly mutilated body of Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD student, was found out on February 4, 2016 in Cairo. Italian media and diplomats say he was killed by the security services but Egypt denies the claims.
(AFP/Vicenzo Pinto)
H
uman Rights Watch and Amnesty have warned that a young transgender woman arrested in Egypt is at risk of "sexual violence" and abuse.
Malak al-Kashef, 19, was arrested this week on charges of joining a "terrorist" group and misusing social media to commit a crime with the aim of disrupting public order, her lawyer Amr Mohamed said.
"The state security prosecution ordered Malak al-Kashef to be detained 15 days pending investigation," Mohamed said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Amnesty said her arrest appeared to be linked to her calls for a protest following a crash at Cairo's main train station that killed least 22 people.
Kashef's lawyers have been unable to locate her, it said, expressing fear that the trans woman was at risk of "sexual violence and torture".
"Egyptian authorities have a horrific track record of persecuting people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity," said Amnesty International's Magdalena Mughrabi.
Kashef, who is still registered as male on her ID card, is being held alone in a cell, according to a security source.
"She is not in custody with either men or women," said the source without providing details on her whereabouts.
Neela Ghoshal, a senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, also said the group was "deeply concerned about the well-being" of Kashef.
The activist earned wide attention in February 2017 after speaking openly on a popular Egyptian talk show.
In online posts, she has also chronicled cases of harassment by family members and in public after having transitioned from male to female.
In conservative Egypt, homosexuality is not explicitly banned but authorities regularly crack down on suspected LGBT people under a "debauchery" law, drawing condemnation from right groups.
In January, an Egyptian court sentenced a television host to one year in prison for interviewing a gay man last year.
Egypt's top media body issued a decision "banning the appearance of homosexuals or promotion of their slogans" after the rainbow flag symbolic of the LGBT community was raised at a Cairo concert in 2017.
The previous year a court rejected a trans individual's request to change name and gender on the ID card.
