Turkey: Father & Uncle Allegedly Kill Gay Teen In Honour Killing

Hurriyet Daily News reports:

A gay teenager was allegedly killed last month by his father and uncle in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır in a murder that the boy’s rich and powerful tribal family subsequently sought to cover up, according to local members of the LGBT community.

R.A., 17, had allegedly been exposed to violence by his family because of his sexual orientation before seeking refuge at a friend’s house, daily Cumhuriyet reported.

R.A.’s uncle, however, forcibly removed the teenager from his friend’s house; later, the boy reportedly had an argument with his father, after which the latter allegedly shot his son 14 times before he and his brother deposited the body by the side of the road, Cumhuriyet reported.

R.A.’s father and uncle were subsequently arrested for their alleged role in the murder.

A member of the local LGBT community said the family had sought to cover the incident up.

“The family wanted to cover up the murder which happened one month ago because they were a rich and powerful tribal family. They wanted the police to hide the incident,” the person said. “We are subjected to violence, but there is no place where we can make a complaint or search for our rights. Police insult and swear at us, doctors make fun of us.”

Indonesia: Security Concerns Prompt Lady Gaga To Cancel Jakarta Concert

CNN reports: 

Lady Gaga has canceled her concert in Indonesia, her management said Sunday, citing security concerns after Islamic hardliners denounced her costumes and dance moves as too risqué.

If the concert were held, there would be concerns the singer, her crew and attendees may be in harm’s way, said Minola Sebayang, the lawyer for the promoters.

“This is an advice from her security team. So the cancellation is purely based on the decision made by her management,” Sebayang said.

Earlier this month, Jakarta police recommended that Lady Gaga’s sold-out June 3 show not be issued a permit because of security concerns.

The pop diva appeared to acknowledge the incident in a post on Twitter on Saturday:

There is nothing Holy about hatred.

— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) May 26, 2012

On Sunday, she tweeted confirmation of the cancelation: “We had to cancel the concert in Indonesia. I’m so very sorry and the fans & just as devastated as you if not more. You are everything to me,” she wrote.

“I will try to put together something special for you. My love for Indonesia has only grown,” the performer said.

Islamists and conservative Muslims have decried Lady Gaga’s upcoming concert, saying her revealing costumes and sensual dance moves are forbidden by Islamic law.

The chairman of the Islamic Defenders Front, Habib Rizieq, said his group could not guarantee security if the concert were held.

Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.

In March, the pop star got a thumbs-down by the country’s highest Islamic authority, according to The Jakarta Globe.

Indonesian Council of Ulema chairman Cholil Ridwan was urging Muslims not to attend the controversial singer’s upcoming concert in Jakarta, the newspaper reported.

“(The concert is) intended to destroy the nation’s morality,” Ridwan told the Globe.

Ridwan is concerned that the singer’s revealing outfits and sexy dance moves will set a bad example for Muslim youths.

Newspaper reports said more than 25,000 tickets were sold in the first two hours after the concert went on sale in March. Police said the promoter should not have started selling tickets before getting a permit.

This is not the first controversy surrounding the singer’s “Born This Way” tour. Gaga also ran afoul of Christian groups in South Korea, prompting the government to ban people under the age of 18 from attending her show.

Last week, Christian groups in the Philippines protested Lady Gaga’s performances there Monday and Tuesday.

Gay Activist Peter Tatchell Urges Eurovision Singers To Fight For Free Speech In Azerbaijan

Pink News UK reports: 

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has urged Eurovision contestants and organisers to stand up against President Aliyev and his dictatorial regime in Azerbaijan, which many see as being incompatible with the competition’s inclusive values.

The glare of the media spotlight is now on the country after its act, Ell and Nikki, won the Eurovision song contest last year, but the majority of headlines have focused on the country’s human rights record and its commitment to LGBT people, rather than the music.

“President Aliyev is using Eurovision as a propaganda tool to project a modern, liberal image to the outside world. The song contest organisers are colluding with his spin and PR,” said Tatchell, ahead of the contest which takes place in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, on Saturday.

“The Eurovision organisers have received no guarantees from the Azerbaijani regime that it will respect human rights, that visitors to Eurovision will not be victimised and that journalists covering the event will be able to report freely.”

Tatchell is urging those taking part to make a stand in whatever way they can against the restrictions on freedom of speech – even making a statement such as ‘I love freedom’, he says, may make an impact.

Open criticism of the contest, which was seen by the International Lesbian and Gay Association as an opportunity for the country to ‘move towards openness’, may be viewed with suspicion by the police. Last year, protesters who voted for the neighbouring country of Armenia had their phone numbers noted and some were jailed.

The country’s gay rights record is also under scrutiny. Despite homosexuality being decriminalised in 2001, members of the LGBT community still suffer police harassment and homophobic violence.

Relations between Azerbaijan and neighbouring country Iran were tested after rumours of a ‘gay parade’ marred the build-up to the contest. Iran later recalled its ambassador to Azerbaijan, accusing the country of insulting its religious saints.

Kuwait: Mass Arrest By Police For “Immorality”

Emirates 24/7 reports:

Kuwaiti police arrested 149 people, including 65 women, during massive raids against suspected prostitution dens as part of a crackdown against vice in the oil-rich Gulf emirate, newspapers reported on Sunday.
Hundreds of policemen and security agents participated in the campaign in several areas of the capital Kuwait City on Saturday.
The campaign, targeting suspected buildings and houses, resulted in the arrest of 149 people, including 65 women, mostly expatriates.
Police said 14 Arab women would be immediately deported while several gays and tomboys have been locked up pending trial.
“The campaigns will intensify in the next period to end such illegal practices inside suspected apartments and houses,” a police source said.

According to Pink News UK, this ain’t the first time it happens:

On the 29 April, seven gay men were arrested for wearing “indecent clothing” while spending time at the beach. Ten days earlier, 44 people were arrested, of whom, 4 were gay and 5 merely labelled as “cross-dressers.”
According to the activist, this is an attempt to appease MPs from the Islamist parties that now have a majority in Parliament (34 out of 50 seats).
Last week the Emir of Kuwait blocked a constitutional amendment to article 79 as to make Sharia “the only source” of legislation rather than a major or main source as it is now. Nevertheless the Islamists MPs have vowed that they will not desist and continue with pressures for constitutional amendments.
On 24 May,  MP Dr. Al-Damkhi, a member of the parliamentary committee on tackling “practices alien to Kuwaiti society”, proposed to set up a “Rehab centre” to ‘treat negative phenomena alien to Kuwaiti society.’ DR Al-Damkhi explained that such a facility is needed ‘in light of the occasional spread of negative phenomena alien to our Kuwaiti society.’
He suggested that the centre would aim ‘to promote noble values amongst Kuwaiti youth, who are the future of the country; to fight what affects the moral values of the society; and to encourage the youth to be involved in fields that serve the nation’.
In addition it would ‘treat cases of gender identity disorder” which will solve the problem of “inappropriate treatment by the police” and allow “imitators” to receive treatment “for their conditions”.  He stated that ‘providing rehab to such patients has become a necessity’.
On December 10, 2007, the parliament passed a bill proposed by Islamic MPs that amended article 198 of penal code so that anyone “imitating the appearance of a member of the opposite sex” could be jailed for up to a year or fined up to 1,000 dinars. Bill architect and long standing Kuwaiti politician Al-Otaib, who headed at the time the parliamentary committee monitoring “practices alien to Kuwaiti society”, said: ‘The law criminalising people who imitate the appearance of the opposite sex must be implemented and respected … Kuwait should ignore any international criticism.’
This law caused massive persecution and misery to transgender people in Kuwait which was slammed in a HRW report published on 15 January this year, criticising arrests, torture and abuse of transgender people in the country.
Article 193 of the Penal Code punishes homosexuality between men, over the age of 21, with up to seven years imprisonment. If the conduct involves persons under the age of 21, then imprisonment can be for a maximum of ten years.

Iran: Four Men Due To Be Hanged For Sodomy 

Pink News UK reports:

Iran court sentence four men from the town of Choram, in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, to death by hanging for sodomy.
Four men named ‘Saadat Arefi’, ‘Vahid Akbari’, ‘Javid Akbari’ and ‘Houshmand Akbari’ are due to be executed shortly after their verdict was approved recently by high court judges, according to a report from the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) in Iran.
The four men are said to be from the town of Choram, in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province of Iran.
According to HRANA and JOOPEA, these four men will be hanged for sodomy according Shari’a law.
A gay activist based in Iran said: ‘Although being gay is not a crime based on Iranian criminal law but this is the most clear statement against same sex-acts in past months.’
He added that ‘there wereof our other men hanged in past five months.’
London based Iranian Human Rights Lawyer, Mehri Jafari said: ‘I am horrified and saddened to have heard the news about these four men. Not only with regards to the execution which is about to take place, but the fact that is beyond our control.
‘There are two important issues in this case; the location of the alleged occurrence and the interpretation of the Sharia’ law that a Hodud (strict Sharia punishment) is eminent.  Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad is one of the most undeveloped provinces in Iran and it is obvious that a lack of access to lawyers and fair trial can be considered a serious issue in this case. After this announcement it is very likely that the execution will be carried out soon, and the remote location makes it difficult to exert any influence on the process.’
Mehri further pleaded: ‘I hope international organisations act quickly and effectively on this specific case.’
Gorji Marzban chairperson of the Austrian-based Oriental Queer Organization (ORQOA) said: ‘The recent death sentence for the four Iranian men is a shocking reality and demonstrates the discrepancy between Western and Islamic perception of queer life. The rhetoric of announcement makes the link between same-sex sexual activity, or sodomy with corporal punishment very clear. Last month the Iranian authorities hanged a young man and the local news agencies/authorities were intentionally unclear about the reason for the death penalty. In the case of these four men we have a clear text attributing the reason for hanging is sodomy.
‘The judicial denial of same-sex relationships in Iran stems from its relationship to Shari’a law and patriarchy. This is a warning signal not only for the queer population of Iran but also for all types of gender inclusive the heterosexuals who have sexual relations outside marriage.
‘The death penalty has failed to eradicate homosexuality from Iran but it was successful to force queer people into the closets. Sooner or later any Islamic community is obliged to integrate queer people. We believe that Iranians should gain more gender equality and rights and wholly condemn such an archaic sentence to murder which is inherently unislamic!’
Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its 2011 - We are a Buried Generation: Discrimination and Violence Against Sexual Minorities in Iran - stated that because trials on moral charges in Iran are usually held in closed sessions, it is difficult to determine what proportion of those charged and executed for same-sex conduct are gay and in what proportion the alleged offense was consensual.
Because of the lack of transparency, Human Rights Watch said: ‘It cannot be ruled out that Iran is sentencing sexual minorities who engage in consensual same-sex relations to death under the guise that they have committed forcible sodomy or rape.’
The issue of the death penalty for same-sex acts is further compounded by the fact that the Iranian legal code does not differentiate between rape and homosexual acts.
Furthermore, in many cases, it is often unclear whether the accused has actually committed a sexual act or it is a mere accusation based on some dispute. Even in the cases where the same-sex act has happened, often it is not clear whether the individuals involved are actually gay or it is an occasional act of sexual gratification.
Iranian Human Rights activists constantly note the fact that the two genders are strictly segregated increases the tendency for same-sex acts among the youth, in a phenomena that is also similarly known in single gender prisons. Indeed this phenomenon happens throughout highly segregated societies in the Middle East and North Africa.

Saudi Arabia: Gays And “Tomboys” Banned From Government Schools

Joe.My.God. reports:

According to a report on Emirates 24/7, Saudi Arabia has banned gay boys and “tom boys” from attending government schools and universities.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most feared law enforcement authority in the oil-rich country, has been asked to enforce the new orders, Sharq Arabic language daily said. “Instructions have been issued to all public schools and universities to ban the entry of gays and tom boys and to intensify their efforts to fight this phenomenon, which has been promoted by some websites,” it said. The paper did not make clear who issued those instructions but said gay and tom boy students can go back to schools and universities if they prove they have been corrected and have stopped such practices. It said high-level orders have been issued to the Commission to immediately enforce the new rules and to step up efforts to combat this phenomenon and other “unacceptable behavior” in public places.

More on this as information becomes available…

Australia: Gays Kiss Outside Muslim Protest Of Atheists Convention

United Arab Emirates: Men Jailed For Kissing

Emirates 24/7 reports:

An appeals court in Abu Dhabi upheld a previous court verdict and sentenced a European and an Asian man to six months in prison and ordered their deportation after they were convicted of kissing each other on the mouth in a public place, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The court supported the previous sentence after a witness confirmed again that he saw them hugging and kissing each other on the mouth in a street in Abu Dhabi, the Arabic language daily Alittihad said.
The two unnamed defendants again told court they were hugging each other while the European said he kissed his friend on the head as he was leaving the UAE.
Their defence lawyer asked court to acquit them on the grounds the witness gave contradicting statements.
The paper said a man who happened to be driving in the area saw the two hugging and kissing each other on the mouth.
He told court that he was not first sure of what he had seen so he turned back and saw them kissing again.
“The court sentenced them to six months in jail and ordered their deportation after serving their prison terms….they two were charged with committing an indecent act in a public place,” it said.

Iraq: Nation Sees Wave Of Brutal Anti-Gay Murders 

The Advocate reports:

A recent wave of violence in Iraq has resulted in the kidnapping, torture, and killing of about 40 people perceived to be gay or lesbian, with the murder weapon sometimes being a concrete block to the head.
The killings began in early February after an unidentified group put up posters with death threats against “adulterous individuals” in largely Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad and Basra, reports the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The threats listed the targets’ names and ages, and gave them four days to change their behavior or face divine retribution.
Some of the murders have been carried out by smashing the victims’ skulls with concrete blocks or pushing them off roofs of tall buildings, says a report from two other groups, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and Iraqi LGBT. 
IGLHRC officials further report, “The Iraqi authorities have neither responded to this targeted violence nor have they publicly denounced it. It is widely believed that these atrocities are being committed by a group of the Shiite militia.”
There was a wave of targeted killings of people believed to be gay or lesbian in 2009 as well, the organization notes. Such crimes “must not be tolerated in a new Iraq,” says IGLHRC executive director Cary Alan Johnson in a statement on the group’s website. As “a fully sovereign and democratic country,” Iraq “must protect all of its citizens including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from hate-filled violence and death at the hands of armed militias,” he says. 
An online statement from the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and Iraqi LGBT calls on “all freedom-lovers of the world, the women’s and human rights organization and governments in the advanced world” to pressure the Iraqi government to protect its LGBT citizens. It also demands a full investigation into the campaign of violence and “full punishment” for the perpetrators.

With these, you can see that although we also have crazy homophobes in the West, like Fred Phelps, Kirk Cameron & the Pope, they’re number one on this sick game. Their crazy ones take it to the next level. This is why our Western culture isn’t just different, but better.

United Arab Emirates: Pulled “Gay Cure” Video Gets Unprecedented Media Interest 

Pink News UK reports:

Following the article ‘UAE ‘gay cure’ video removed from YouTube’, The National, one of the country’s most widely respected English language broadsheets, followed suit and reported on the matter.
Local LGBT activists see this as an important first step in a social dialogue.
In an unprecedented manner, The National, printed a short article covering the removal of the YouTube video stating: “A local group called Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transexual Rights UAE applauded the removal of the video, which it called ‘homophobic’”.
In addition several key figures within the UAE including the Sultan Al-Qassemi, retweeted both The National’s and PinkNews.co.uk’s articles regarding the video removal story.
Abdulla, the chairperson of the local group, Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Rights UAE (GLBTR UAE), commented: “The removal of that video is a milestone even though we are talking about something virtual on YouTube. The publication of an article in the local press and attention it got is unprecedented.”
“Press coverage is the willingness to hear another point of view. This is admirable and how a proper society conducts itself. Dialogue and understanding is the first step in the right direction,” he stresses.
He hopes there will be more dialogue in UAE society about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.
“I just want parents to hear how their kids feel, how I felt and couldn’t be heard because I didn’t dare to speak out,” he says.
“I was really bullied in school and called offensive names. I was told that homosexuality is a sickness and a sin, and I started eventually believing that.”
Abdulla’s recalls how even a crush on a guy at high school felt disgusting to him: “I suffered. The pain and hurt was so intense that I felt like committing suicide, and I had no one to talk with for a long while.”
The pressing issue form him is that “many are still are or being traumatised and can’t speak out and live with their burden of a “dirty secret” with grave consequences for their entire lives”.
This is not helped by the “campaigns that are launched against us telling us and our families that we are sick, sinful and need to be treated and cured by hormones and or “psychology” in order to “be ourselves”, just like the message of that video”.
He says that the press can help society have a discussion around these issues and that would be “significant”.
“This is why I welcome dialogue and understanding as a first step; rather than hurtful campaigns, let’s have a dialogue in our society and especially with families,” he says.
“Let’s speak about sexuality not only homosexuality, it’s about understanding our youth, giving them some hope rather than damaging them for life. I am not even asking that people completely accept things but give the possibility to be heard and listened to, and this is something that is encouragingly just happening.”

With the help of Gay Middle East, Pink News UK has spoken to two gay people in the UAE. For their stories, click here.

Libya: UN Delegate Says Gays “Affect Continuation Of Humanity”

Pink News UK reports:

Gays threaten the continuation of the human race, Libya’s UN delegate has reportedly told the organisation’s Human Rights Council.
The UN Watch monitoring group reported comments made yesterday at Libya’s first appearance after it overthrew the Gadaffi regime.
Libya was reinstated to the Human Rights Council in November of last year with its delegate pledging no violations would take place on the country’s soil.
Libyan deputy UN envoy Ibrahim Dabbashi said the new Libya “deserved to contribute with other members to the promotion of values of human rights”.
Protesting a discussion on discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, Libya’s representative reportedly told the gathering of ambassadors that gay issues “affect religion and the continuation and reproduction of the human race.”
He also said Libya would have opposed the council’s historic June resolution on the human rights of gay and trans people, which passed 23-19.
Laura Dupuy Lasserre, the UN Human Rights Council president said in reaction to the Libyan statement that the council was “here to defend human rights and prevent discrimination”.
Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch said: “We were happy to see the Gaddafi regime finally suspended last year.
“Yet today’s shocking homophobic outburst by the new Libyan government, together with the routine abuse of prisoners, underscores the serious questions we have about whether the new regime is genuinely committed to improving on the dark record of its predecessor, or to pandering to some of the hardline Islamists amidst its ranks.”
He added: “The new rulers’ pledges are being broken.
“Gays are now paying the price, with their right to be free from violent attacks now being undermined at the UN by a country that democratic countries fought to liberate, and by a goverment that our leaders helped install. It’s all very disconcerting.”

Saudi Arabia: 23 Year-Old Blogger, Hamza Kashgari, Could Face Death Penalty For Tweets

It’s for men like him that Nations begin their journeys towards Freedom & Human Rights. It’s time for the world to drag Saudi Arabia into their next century, at least, which in their case would be the 18th.

With this kind of things you can see that our cultures aren’t just different, but ours is better. Not perfect, just way better.

As the old Hitch would say: “religion poisons everything”. It poisons human dignity at its very core.

I truly hope the price he’ll pay isn’t his head.

Turkey: Parents’ Appeal For Anti-Homophobia Film “My Child”

Pink News UK reports:

A support group for the families of gay and trans people in Turkey is appealing for funds to finish a documentary on the experiences of parents.
LISTAG has secured nearly $10,000 of its $40,000 target and secured a matching grant which will double donations.
The group was formed in 2008 and now runs as a solidarity and support network for friends, families and especially parents of LGBT individuals, actively working against homophobia, transphobia, discrimination, and hate crimes.
In the documentary, seven parents are interviewed in their homes in Istanbul on their experiences of raising gay and trans children.
A LISTAG spokesperson told PinkNews.co.uk “We felt the need to make this documentary, because it is very important to be heard by as many people as possible in this homophobic, transphobic society where our voices usually are not being heard.
“People do not know or understand what we have been going through and mostly ignore the situation.
“We thought that we should have a voice. People should know what we and our children go through in this part of the world and that a different world is possible! We think that if we talk as parents, it is easier for people to understand what would happen if one day their children were to come out to them as LGBTs.
“As you can imagine it is not easy for us to be in front of the camera as parents of LGBTs in such a homophobic and transphobic society where our children have to struggle even when expressing their sexual identities.”
The Republic of Turkey has never criminalised homosexuality, but there is no protection for gay or trans people in employment, education, housing, health care, public accommodations or credit and no domestic partnership or marriage rights for gays.
In 2009, a Turkish man was put on trial ‘in absentia’ for the death in his son, thought to have been an ‘honour’ killing.
Selma Aliye Kavaf, State Minister Responsible for Women and Family sparked protests in 2010 when she said: “I believe homosexuality is a biological disorder, a disease. It needs to be treated.”
This week it was announced that a case had been lodged at the European Court of Human Rights against Turkey for the criminalisation of gay sex in Northern Cyprus.
Visit LISTAG’s Indiegogo fundraising page or the group’s website for more information on the film.

United Kingdom: Derby Muslim Men Jailed For Giving Out “Death To Gays” Leaflets 

BBC News reports:

Three Derby men have been jailed for giving out leaflets calling for homosexual people to be executed.
Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan Javed were found guilty at Derby Crown Court last month, of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.
The leaflet, titled Death Penalty?, was distributed in the build-up to a gay pride event, in July 2010.
Ali was jailed for two years while Ahmed and Javed were given 15-month sentences.
It is the first prosecution of its kind since new laws came into force in 2010.
‘Muslim duty’
The leaflets, which were handed out and put through letterboxes near Derby’s Jamia Mosque, were described in court as “threatening and nasty”.
They showed an image of a wooden mannequin hanging from a noose, quoted Islamic texts and said capital punishment was the only way to rid society of homosexuality.
Two other leaflets, called Turn or Burn and God Abhors You, were also distributed while a fourth, called Dead Derby, was found but not given out.

Ali, 42, of Fairfax Road, Ahmed, 28, of Madeley Street, and Javed, 28, of Wilfred Street, had claimed they were simply doing their duty as Muslims to condemn sinful behaviour in society.
Two other men, Mehboob Hussain and Umar Javed, who were also charged with the same offence, were found not guilty.
Judge John Burgess said: “You have been convicted of intending to stir up hatred.
“It follows that your intention was to do great harm in a peaceful community.
“Much has been said during the course of this trial about freedom of expression, and the freedom to preach strongly held beliefs; beliefs, which may have some foundation in scripture.
“Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy and a basic ingredient of any free society.
“Parliament clearly had this very much in mind when this legislation was passed.”
Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, said: ‘Gay people in Derby - and their friends and families - will feel relieved to see these extremists kept away from the community that they terrified with their deeply offensive and threatening leaflets.
“This whole case vindicates Stonewall’s long fight to secure specific legal protection for gay people against incitement to hatred.”

Northern Cyprus: Buggery Laws To Be Challenged

Pink News UK reports:

A case has been lodged at the European Court of Human Rights against Turkey today to decriminalise homosexuality in Northern Cyprus.The move, by the Human Dignity Trust, follows reports that Northern Cyprus’s anti-gay law continues to be employed despite assurances given by its leader that it would be repealed.Cyprus was required by the ECHR to decriminalise consensual sex between consenting adults in 1993, but in the Turkish-occupied part of Northern Cyprus, homosexual acts are still illegal.The case has been filed against Turkey, which the Trust said is responsible for protecting and promoting human rights in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.Gay acts in Turkey have been legal since the Ottoman Empire of the 19th century.The challenge, brought on behalf of an anonymous plaintiff, asserts that the laws violate his private and family life and that the resulting discrimination he suffers amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment.Commenting today, human rights barrister and Chief Executive of the Human Dignity Trust Jonathan Cooper said: “The fact that homosexual relations remain criminalised in Northern Cyprus is a violation of international law and the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights.“Criminalisation of identity puts people beyond protection of the law. This is not an issue of gay rights but one of upholding universal human rights. More than 80 legal systems across the globe continue to criminalise homosexuality – almost half the countries in the world.”The Human Dignity Trust, an international organisation which uses law to decriminalise homosexuality across the globe.The case is supported by the Northern Cyprus LGBTI organisation, the Homofobiye Karsi Inisiyatif (Initiative Against Homophobia).The legal team, led by Nigel Pleming QC, includes Northern Cyprus lawyer Oncel Polili and Tom Mountford.Instructing solicitors are international law firm Taylor Wessing LLP, who will be working pro bono.Paul Callaghan, partner at Taylor Wessing LLP, said: “We are delighted to work on a pro bono basis with the Human Dignity Trust for such an important cause. This case highlights a clear breach of the international human rights law and we hope to see the legal, as well as moral, obligations addressed in the judgment.”The Homofobiye Karsi Inisiyatif added: “All of our efforts to amend the law have been futile and Turkish Cypriot authorities are reluctant to show any good will. Despite the promises to amend the law authorities still charge people with this archaic law. The situation shows that Turkish Cypriot authorities have no courage to defend human rights.“We are very pleased to show a good example of international solidarity with our work together with the Human Dignity Trust.”Earlier this month, Conservative MEP Marina Yannakoudakis criticised the arrests in Northern Cyprus after the region’s leader Derviş Eroğlu had told her draft repeal legislation had been drawn up.She said: “Dr. Eroğlu has twice promised me that the northern part of Cyprus would repeal the ban on homosexuality. I have so far taken him at his word, but now he needs to back up these words with deeds.“There must be an immediate moratorium on arrests under Section 171 and the men arrested last month must be released without delay. Draft legislation submitted by the Communal Democratic Party must be fast-tracked through the assembly to ensure that there are no further miscarriages of justice and Dr. Eroğlu must keep his promise to sign the repeal into law.”