Egyptian police use Grindr to trick gay men into hotel rooms

Police in Egypt are using Grindr to lure gay and bisexual men to hotel rooms to arrest them.

Dalia Abdel-Hameed, a gender rights researcher with the Egyptian Initative for Personal Rights unearthed dozens of police reports.

In the reports, a “cultivation” technique in which the targets are 'seduced' using Grindr.

They are lured to hotel rooms and arrested by authorities.

For more stories on the global crackdown on the LGBT+ Community:
Egypt acquits 26 men in trial over police raid on gays
Tanzanian police illegally detain human rights lawyers for 'promoting homosexuality'
Most countries score an F on our LGBT human rights report card

Earlier this month, four people were imprisoned for homosexuality in Egypt.

The Haram Misdemeanor Court sentenced the defendants to three years in prison for acts which were “inconsistent with public morality and homosexuality”.

The genders and names of those convicted have not yet been reported. They were arrested as part of the ongoing crackdown on the LGBT+ community in Egypt.

The crackdown began last month, after at least one rainbow flag was waved at a concert by the Lebanese band Mashrou Leila, whose lead singer is openly gay.

Egypt’s conservative, pro-government media screamed anti-LGBT+ sentiments after the concert, with prime-time television host Ahmed Moussa telling his audience “Homosexuality is a crime that’s as terrible as terrorism.”

Egyptian authorities responded with a ‘purge’ targeted at the country’s LGBT+ community, raiding homes and arresting more than 60 people to date.

10 of those arrested immediately after the concert have already been sentenced to six years in prison each, for “debauchery”. 

Last week, authorities banned the media from reporting on the issue, while imposing a Russia-style ban on LGBT+ people being mentioned on television and film, as well as radio, online or in print.

Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation issued the statement, which “prohibits the appearance of homosexuals or their slogans in the media”, branding homosexuality a “sickness”.

The order forbids any appearance of gay people “in any media outlet whether written, audio, or visual, except when they acknowledge the fact that their conduct is inappropriate and repent for it”.

Though the crackdown has largely targeted gay men, one woman was detained by authorities on suspicion of “promoting sexual deviancy” and “habitual debauchery” for waving the rainbow flag.

The Gayly – October 31, 2017 @ 11:10 a.m. CST.