United Arab Emirates: British Man Jailed For Public Gay Sex In Dubai

Pink News UK reports:

Two men, from Britain and the Seychelles, have been sentenced for three years in jail for having drunken gay sex in public in Dubai.
According to a report in The National, an Emirates-based English paper yesterday (11 April).
A 28-year-old British male teacher, identified only by his initials PA, admitted to having consensual gay sex with MB, a 40-year-old man from the Seychelles, next to a petrol station in February 2011.
The pair were said to have been drunk after a birthday celebration for one of them after which they stopped by a tree next to the petrol station for sex.
A man parked behind the petrol station witnessed the two men and reported them to police.
He later reported to the Dubai Misdemeanours Court: ‘I was exhausted and decided to park my car and nap for a while then I saw the two men.’
The two men apparently tried to escape when the police officers arrived, but were apprehended.
During a court hearing in March this year (2012) they both admitted to having consensual sex and consuming alcohol. Each was sentenced to three years in jail and both will be deported after serving their prison terms.
Article 358 of the Punitive Law Number 52 of 2006 states that people who preform ‘obscene public acts and violations of public decency’ are to receive no less than a six-month jail term.
The purchase and consumption of alchohol in the Dubai Emirate is illegal without a license which is only issued to resident non-Muslims.
Homosexuality is illegal in the Emirate of Dubai, Article 177 of the Penal Code imposes imprisonment of up to 10 years for consensual gay sex.
Recently (10 April), the Dubai police arrested two Bangladeshi men for having consensual sex in a public toilet at a bus station. Both were jailed for six months each and will be deported following their prison terms.
In a much publicised case a British straight couple in 2008 were sentenced for three months in a Dubai prison and a fine for similar offences and were released and deported after an international outcry.
A spokesperson for the United Arab Emirates LGBT group commenting on the case of the British and Seychelles men said: ‘The Emirates rules and laws on public displays of affection and indecency are clear and therefore must be respected.
‘We would have hoped the court would have fined and deported the men, or at the very most hand a sentence of anything between a three to six months sentence followed by deportation.
‘The length of jail term handed down in this sentence, however, compared with straight equivalent and even the previous gay sex case seems to us uneven, excessive and unjustly harsh.’
A spokesman for the British Foreign Office remarked: ‘We are aware of the arrest of the British national in Dubai and are providing consular assistance to the British national and their family.’

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.

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.

Kenya: Gay & Bisexual Men Being Trafficked Across The Middle East

The Advocate reports:

Gay and bisexual men in Kenya are being lured into sex trafficking rings in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, according to a new report in African LGBT magazine, Identity. 

Identity magazine says that the men attending Kenyatta University are particularly targeted, offered jobs as airline attendants or office workers, and given visas and passports (thanks to officials who’ve been bribed to help facilitate the travel arrangements).

Some of the men have reported violent sadistic sexual abuse at the hands of their captors. Many countries, including Qatar, have no anti-trafficking legislation and remain on the U.S. Department of State watch lists for showing no progress in identifying victims of trafficking and prosecuting the perpetrators. 

While Kenya did pass anti-trafficking legislation last year, homosexuality is still illegal in both the Arab states as well as Kenya, so the men are unable to report abuse to police.

City Of The Week: Dubai, United Arab Emirates