Egypt and the ‘Cairo 52’
Witness History
BBC
4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2024
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A group of men known as the ‘Cairo 52’ were arrested in Egypt in May 2001. They were on board the Queen Boat, a floating gay nightclub on the River Nile.
Omer, not his real name, was arrested and imprisoned for habitual debauchery.
There is no explicit law against homosexuality in Egypt and Omer was released early following the orders of US president at the time, George W Bush.
Omer speaks to Dan Hardoon about the arrest and its aftermath – in graphic detail.
(Photo: Some of the 'Cairo 52', dressed in white with their faces covered, being escorted by security into a court in Cairo. Credit: Marwan Naamani/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. You're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Dan Hardoon. |
| 0:48.0 | I'm taking you back to a party boat on the River Nile in May 2001. |
| 0:56.0 | The Queen Boat, a popular venue for Egypt's underground gay community, was raided by police. |
| 1:07.6 | 52 men were arrested, beaten and put on trial for being gay in a case that attracted months of media coverage |
| 1:11.2 | and international condemnation. |
| 1:14.0 | I've been speaking to Omer, one of the men arrested on the Queen boat that night. |
| 1:20.0 | We've changed his name to protect his identity, and a warning he speaks in graphic detail about what he went through. |
| 1:27.0 | Omer told me what his life in Cairo was like, before he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. |
| 1:34.0 | I was comfortable. |
| 1:35.4 | I had my own apartment. |
| 1:37.1 | I had a good job. |
| 1:38.5 | I had never had any issues with the government. |
| 1:42.0 | And then suddenly overnight life changed. |
| 1:45.0 | It has been always hard in Egypt to live as a gay man and people do not actually |
| 1:51.0 | open that topic at all because it's taboo in the Middle East. |
| 1:57.0 | Omer hadn't planned on going to the Queen boat the night of Friday the 11th of May, |
| 2:02.0 | but he'd bumped into some friends who were on their way there and |
... |
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