Audio Slideshow: Meet the Hijras of Pakistan

New life beckons for the hijra, Pakistan's transgender community

The transgender hijra community, often known as 'wedding dancers', has suffered decades of discrimination and harassment in Pakistan. But things have started to change, with new rights and laws offering hope to this long-oppressed minority. Declan Walsh reports

Audio Slide Show from the Guardian UK - January 28, 2010

Pakistan's Hijra Transgender Minority Finds its Voice

Pakistani hijras, or transgender men, at a function on the outskirts of the garrison city Rawalpindi. Pakistan's supreme court has issued a number of groundbreaking orders for the government and police to afford hijras the same civil rights as other citizens. Photograph: Declan Walsh

Full Article from the Guardian UK - January 29, 2010

Indonesia: Ulemas Condemn Miss Transvestite Pageant

Ulemas condemn Miss Transvestite pageant

Hotli Simanjuntak ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Banda Aceh   |  Mon, 02/15/2010 10:01 AM  |  Headlines

Crossing the line: A Miss Transvestite Aceh contestant takes a photo backstage prior to the announcement of the winner of the Aceh Cultural and Social Envoy 2010, in Banda Aceh on Saturday evening. Transvestites face discrimination in the staunchly Muslim province of Aceh, which also bans homosexuality under its sharia bylaw. JP/Hotli Simanjuntak

Participants were met with applause, but also taunts when they stepped on the catwalk during a Miss Transvestite Aceh pageant on Saturday evening.

The pageant, held at the Radio Republik Indonesia building and organized by transgender rights organization Putro Sejati Aceh, was aimed at selecting a representative for the national contest as well as campaigning on transgender issues.

”Transvestites are marginalized. We demand equal rights,” Sherly, who chairs Putro Sejati Aceh, told The Jakarta Post.

She said people in Aceh despised them and discriminated against them for their gender identity.

This was a burden on transvestites who subsequently lost confidence in expressing themselves, especially in education, she added. “Many people are antagonistic and call us ’sissies’. We are afraid to go to school or university to study,” Sherly said.

The implementation of Islam sharia law in Aceh, she said, placed them in a difficult position.

An event to select the Acehnese Social Envoy 2010, the pageant featured 40 participants wearing the traditional costumes of their respective regencies. Zifana Letisia from north Aceh won the contest.

“The winner will be sent to the national event,” Timmy, head of the organizing committee, said.

”We hope the event raises awareness among Acehnese about transvestites,” she said.

Timmy said organizers obtained consent from sharia officials to run the event.

“I believe the event was successful because of public support. The fact that it ran without incident is testament to that support.”

Rini, a member of the judging panel, hailed the event as a positive retort to those angered by transvestites.

”This is an opportunity [for transvestites] to show their creativity and prove they have equal rights,” she said, adding that many Acehnese saw transgenderism as sinful.

“Sin is a personal affair with God. We can’t judge someone a sinner because they are a transvestite,” she said.

However, the road ahead for transvestites is rocky as Ulemas criticized the contest.

“We condemn the pageant. It has tainted sharia in Aceh,” Tengku Faisal Ali, the secretary-general of Aceh Ulema Association (HUDA), was quoted as saying Sunday by Antara news agency.

Criticism also came from provincial leaders, with legislator Darmuda saying, “We can’t tolerate transvestite pageants. This violates the values of the majority of Acehnese who are Muslims.”

Pakistan's Hijra Transgender Minority Finds Its Voice

From the Guardian UK

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 January 2010

Harassed, intimidated, abused: but now Pakistan's hijra transgender minority finds its voice
New civil rights for Pakistan's long-oppressed 'wedding dancers' offer hope of a better life

Down a grimy alleyway in Rawalpindi, in the heart of Pakistan's military establishment, a striking figure tweaked her makeup and squirted a dash of perfume under her arms.

Life as a hijra, as Pakistan's transgender minority is known, can be tough, said 21-year-old Alisha, recounting tales of extortion, sexual violence and predatory policemen. But of late things have started to improve.

The government has offered help, the hijras' plight has come into the public eye, and even the police are showing a little respect.

"They call us the chief justice's darlings," she said.

An unlikely revolution is stirring among Pakistan's transgender community. Over the past six months the supreme court has issued a series of ground-breaking judgments in favour of hijras, who have long lived under a cloud of disapprobation and discrimination.

Spurred by the forceful chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was restored after countrywide protests last year, normally moribund authorities have been ordered to ensure hijras enjoy the same rights as other Pakistanis, in matters of inheritance, employment and election registration.

Police have been warned to cease harassment and intimidation. Pakistan's national database and registration authority, which issues ID cards, has been told to research a third option under the "sex" column.

"Times are changing," said Almas Bobby, leader of one of the largest group of hijras in Rawalpindi. "Our community feels good for the first time in 60 years."

The changes have triggered a heady sense of possibility.

In October hijras in the southern city of Sukkur fielded the country's first hijras cricket team. After winning their inaugural match, the captain thanked the chief justice.

The exuberance is spreading. Earlier this month about 100 hijras from across Punjab crammed into a tented rooftop area for a raucous dance party.

Showers of rose petals filled the air as hijras of all ages, draped in sequined dresses and bedecked in costume jewellery, danced into the small hours – whirling and swinging their hips in the manner of Bollywood movie stars.

The hijras' roots run deep in Asia: many were respected courtesans in the courts of the Moghul emperors who ruled south Asia in the 17th and 18th centuries. One even commanded troops into battle.

But behind the merriment, hijra life can be lonely and dangerous in a conservative society such as Pakistan.

Most hijras describe themselves as "professional wedding dancers" (women performers are forbidden under Pakistani law) but campaigners say their main sources of income hail from begging and prostitution.

Alisha, who worked as a makeup artist to pay for silicon implants, sported a 36B bra under a red sequinned dress. "I've always felt like a girl in my soul," she said. But her voice also rang with sadness: her middle-class Islamabad family cast her out. She pointed to Azeem, a middle-aged hijra who once worked as head of housekeeping in a five-star hotel.

"Now she is my mother and father," Alisha said.

Although often referred to as "eunuchs", many of Pakistan's hijras have not undergone gender reassignment surgery, according to campaigners. The medical and psychological services available in other Asian countries, such as Thailand, are either absent or operate in the shadows. A plastic surgeon in Rawalpindi, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he would only operate on hijras after hours.

"It would not raise the prestige of the clinic if they were seen," he said.

The surgeon said he also treated a minority of women seeking gender ­reassignment surgery.

"They come in with bandages on their breasts, which causes ulcers and lesions, threatening to commit suicide if we don't operate," he said.

Back at the party in Rawalpindi a group of men wearing regular shalwar kameez, loose trousers and tunic, watched from the back of the room. They were the "sponsors" – often married men who keep hijras as mistresses.

The men watched silently, filming with their mobile phones, but sometimes stepped forward to cast bundles of 10 rupee notes over their favourite dancers – and in so doing, sent banknote images of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founding father, fluttering to the ground.

An unlikely revolutionary

The man leading the hijras' modern crusade is an unlikely warrior: a lawyer who specialises in Islamic law. Islamabad barrister Muhammad Aslam Khaki instigated the supreme court cases last year after reading about a brutal incident in Taxila, near the capital, where police allegedly robbed and raped a group of eight hijra wedding dancers.

"People don't consider them as human beings. They don't like to eat with them, drink with them or shake their hands," he said. "But they are full citizens of Pakistan like everyone else."

It is not the first time the softly-spoken lawyer has challenged Pakistan's status quo. Last year Khaki persuaded a federal Islamic court to overturn the punishment for drinking alcohol – 40 lashes of the whip – on the basis that it was not in accordance with the Qur'an. Later, he won a declaration that prisoners should be allowed conjugal rights with their wives during visiting hours – also, he says, a little-known provision of Islam.

"Ours is the most misunderstood religion," he said.

But his advocacy for hijras is a bridge too far for some. He has received death threats from Shabab e-Milli, an offshoot of the youth wing of Pakistan's main religious party, Jamaat e-Islami. "They say I am protecting the gay culture. But I am protecting them from the police culture of torture and sex abuse."

Audio Slideshow: New Life Beckons for the Hijra, Pakistan's Transgender Community

From the Guardian UK - January 29, 2010



Pakistani hijras, or transgender men, at a function on the outskirts of the garrison city Rawalpindi. Pakistan's supreme court has issued a number of groundbreaking orders for the government and police to afford hijras the same civil rights as other citizens. Photograph: Declan Walsh

The transgender hijra community, often known as 'wedding dancers', has suffered decades of discrimination and harassment in Pakistan. But things have started to change, with new rights and laws offering hope to this long-oppressed minority. Declan Walsh reports

Audio Slideshow

Pakistan’s ’Third Gender’ Seek Greater Rights

by Elena Becatoros
Associated Press
Monday Feb 8, 2010

In this Feb. 12, 2009 photo, Almas Bobby poses at her home in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.    (Source:AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

Taunted at home, Sanhya ran away at age 12, searching for acceptance as she sees herself - neither male nor female, but a member of a third gender.

Pakistan’s transgender community has long lived on society’s margins, harassed by police, ridiculed as freaks, pitied as the outcast people of Allah and often rejected by their own families. Now the Supreme Court is giving them hope through a petition for their rights to be respected.

"People are recognizing that we are also human beings," said Almas Bobby, who acts as head of the community and fights for equal rights.

A series of hearings by the court over the past 11 months could be the first steps toward bringing them into the mainstream. The court has already suggested authorities consider adding a third gender to state-issued identity cards - a bold proposal in Pakistan’s conservative society.

The community is known as "khusra," which Pakistanis translate as "eunuch" in English, though the meaning is broader than a castrated man, the common definition in the West. Besides transsexuals, it also includes hermaphrodites, people with both male and female sexual organs. Some have undergone sex-change surgery.

Transgender people in much of the world view themselves as women born in a man’s body, or vice versa. In Pakistan and other south Asian countries, those born male often see themselves as neither sex, though they wear women’s clothing and refer to each other as "she."

On identity cards, "they wrote men," Bobby said. "We want eunuch. If we are eunuch, please write eunuch, not men."

Adding a third gender would be a symbolic victory for the community, giving it hope of social acceptance, she said. The proposal borrows from the example of neighboring India, whose election commission ruled late last year that transgender people could register to vote as "other," rather than male or female.

"Our parents feel embarrassed for us to be called khusra," said Sanhya, who is now 19 and lives with other khusra in Rawalpindi, a city next to the capital, Islamabad. "But we need our identity. It is our right." Like most in her community, she would only give the female name she adopted.

While Sanhya and Bobby say the situation has improved since the Supreme Court took notice of their plight, their community is still dogged by violence.

Several dozen khusra gathered recently to remember 28-year-old Nadia Malik, whose body was found on a street in Rawalpindi. They said she had been stabbed repeatedly and then run over by a car.

"She was brutally killed," said Sanaa, a bright-eyed 22-year-old with carefully applied makeup and wearing a blue shalwar kameez, a traditional Pakistani women’s outfit. "We have reported it to the police, but so far they have found nothing," she said. She refused to speculate about the killers’ motive.

There are no official figures for khusra, though Bobby estimates there are several hundred thousand. Many live in communal homes under the leadership of a "guru," a fellow khusra who looks after their needs andtakes a cut of their earnings.

Despite the discrimination they suffer, Pakistani Islamic society tolerates them as dancers at festivals and weddings, where men and women are segregated and khusra are seen as bridging the gap. They also earn money blessing newborn babies or begging: Their curses are widely feared and few dare send them away empty-handed. Many work as prostitutes.

"People laugh at them wherever they go," said Mohammad Aslam Khaki, the lawyer who filed the petition at the Supreme Court in early 2009 in an attempt to stop khusra facing discrimination in employment, health care, housing and other rights. "Their dignity is violated."

To tackle police harassment, the court ruled that authorities must send it copies of the case files of any khusra arrested. It has also issued orders to guarantee them free health care and their right to inheritances, which are sometimes denied them by families who have rejected them.

The court is to hold more hearings, and has asked provincial governments to provide progress reports on what steps they are taking to improve the khusra’s situation.

"We are just fighting for our rights," says Sanhya. "This Pakistan belongs to us also."

____

Associated Press writer Muneeza Naqvi in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Beyond the Curse: Pakistan's Hijra Community

From the National Newspaper (UAE)

February 4. 2010 8:36AM GMT

Only after my wedding, Nasir Khan writes, did I become acquainted with Pakistan’s most marginalised community.

I’ve never been sure exactly how to translate the Urdu word hijra (not to be confused with the Arabic word that means “migration”) into English. In Pakistan, it is variously used to refer to eunuchs, hermaphrodites, transvestites and those who identify as neither men nor women, but as members of a “third gender”. It’s a loose social category – one that describes at least 90,000 Pakistanis – not a biological fact; to some extent, being a hijra means identifying yourself as a hijra, or at least finding yourself identified that way.

Of course, I lost most of my interest in the term’s puzzling capaciousness soon after a crew of dancing hijras showed up uninvited at my wedding. On our mehndi, traditionally a day of dance and song, five hijras camped outside the hall we had rented, where they performed a short Bollywood routine, then refused to let my guests pass until they were paid. They proceeded to follow the multi-day celebration from venue to venue, hounding me for more money at every stop. They even interrupted the rukhsati – the ceremonial procession representing the bride’s journey to her new home – by standing in our path and demanding more alms as our families looked on.

Every day, my mother insisted that I pay the hijras, feed them and give them small gifts – lest they curse us. Among my parents’ generation, the curse of a hijra is thought to be particularly potent. Yes, hijras are regularly looked down upon, ridiculed, barred from employment, banished by their families and beaten – and still no one wants their wedding, or the birth of their son, or any other public celebration, to be marked by the hijra curse. At another wedding – with, naturally, its own uninvited hijras – I asked an Islamic scholar to explain this belief. “In Islam, it is said that Allah always listens more to those who have less,” he told me. “This is why we fear that the curse of a mad person or a sorrowful person or a hijra can cause harm.”

The hijras at my wedding were certainly aware of their supposed power. Once, overcome by frustration, I started shouting insults at their leader, Black Bobby. Bobby, 45, was a woman until the age of 14, when he reinvented himself as a man – dressing as a man, describing himself as a man, and even going so far as to perform a crude operation on himself, something he referenced often but the details of which never became clear to me. After listening to me yell for a few seconds, Bobby stepped forward, looked me straight in the eye and thundered: “We are here to share in your celebration and shower you with prayers and blessings. We are not here to be insulted.” With that he turned, walked a few steps away, them dramatically twisted back and fixed me with an ominous stare. “We will be back.” And of course they were, the very next day.

By the end of my wedding, I’d given up on being annoyed, and I actually knew Bobby pretty well – he and his troupe had, after all, been a daily presence through some of the happiest days of my life. So, a few weeks later, I called Bobby to ask if I could come visit his apartment in Diamond Market, Lahore’s flourishing red-light district. Many hijras live there, some working as pimps, some prostituting themselves, many supplying shoulders for the city’s most expensive prostitutes to cry on.

Bobby shares his one-bedroom apartment with seven other hijras, aged 13 to 30. He is their leader – they call him “guru”, and themselves “students” – and every night they come home and place their earnings in his hand. In return, Bobby takes care of the flat, prepares their meals, choreographs their dance routines, and keeps an eye out for upcoming weddings. During the wedding season, a hijra can make 100 to 200 dollars a week, but during the rest of the year they struggle make 10 dollars a week, so planning is important, as is community support.

The walls are decorated with odd, grotesque paintings of children being carried in the mouths of lions, rolled over by cats and kicked by goats. Mattresses serve as beds, chairs and couches. A television is constantly on and switched to the Bollywood dance video channel: everyone who lives in the apartment spends two to three hours a day practicing the dances, adapting them as Bobby instructs. The first time I visited, Bobby and I sat in his “drawing room” while, in the next room, two of his flatmates slept, one applied make-up, and one rehearsed the latest moves.

On other visits, I got to know some of Bobby’s crew better. There was Saima Jan, previously Haider Ali, a young hijra who spent most days sauntering provocatively through the red-light district. She – the pronoun Jan prefers – described herself as a “dancer and a poet”, but eventually admitted that she “would also provide other benefits”. In sharp contrast to Jan was Gul Begum, a middle-aged hijra who dressed in a tattered shawl and stained clothes. Begum made money by roaming the streets of Lahore, bowl in hand, begging for alms.

“I tell those who refuse me that I will curse them and that usually does the trick,” she said with a wink. “You know the curse of the eunuchs is much to be feared.”

Over the last two yearsor so, I have thought of Bobby and his “students” often as Pakistan’s supreme court has issued a string of ground-breaking judgements in support of hijras’ rights. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudrhy has decreed that hijras should enjoy all the same rights as other Pakistanis, particularly when it comes to employment, election registration and inheritance law. These decisions all result from petitions by Mohammad Aslan Khaki, a social worker and Islamic jurist, who started championing equal rights in the aftermath of a brutal police raid on a hijra colony in the city of Taxila.

In his first ruling, Chaudrhy ordered the government to recognise the category by conducting a survey of hijras and the services available to them. And last summer, the court ruled that hijras are as entitled as anyone else to ask for a share of their family’s inheritance. I called up Bobby the day the decision was announced on national television. It was late in the afternoon, and Bobby was busy collecting his group’s earnings. I told him what had happened, and he switched on the television. Later, he told me that he instantly forgot about everything. He forgot that he had called a dance rehearsal that afternoon, he forgot to place the day’s earnings in his locked drawer, he forgot that he was out of rice and wheat, he forgot that we were on the phone. He simply watched, then wept.

“I am not interested in getting property from my family or asking them for any money,” he told me. “I was just so glad that someone had given us respect.”

Justice is a tricky thing, and hijras will surely continue to be shunned, scorned, feared and harassed – especially since few of them have the money necessary to seek legal recourse. But when I visited the Diamond Market that night, I saw Bobby and his troupe celebrating excitedly on the street. Bobby, dressed in skin-tight jeans and a gold T-shirt, did a mad, whirling, unchoreographed celebration dance; Saima Jan did a few Bollywood steps; Gul Begum stood and clapped excitedly. Other hijras stood around them, screaming and clapping excitedly.

Soon I decided to leave, and I walked up to Bobby to slip him a few rupees. For the first time, I saw him shake his head and refuse money. “Tonight we are not dancing for money,” he told me. “Tonight we are dancing for ourselves.”

Nasir Khan, a regular contributor to The Review, is an advertising executive and freelance journalist based in Pakistan.

Drag Against the Occupation

From Haaretz (in Israel)

Drag against the occupation
By Tamara Traubman

A full dance floor in a South Tel Aviv nightclub, replete with its share of drag queens. Ostensibly another Friday night of gay men having a good time. But this is not an ordinary party of this sort. Palestinians and Jews are dancing together, the music is Arabic, several of the drag performances have a political content, and even the time of night - from the early evening until before midnight - is designed so the celebrants can get home at a reasonable hour without being asked too many questions.

The party is taking place as part of the activities of a new association, Al-Qaws [The Rainbow] for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society. The dance parties, which take place once every two months, characterize the organization's nature: Political activism can be more than just demonstrations and serious slogans. You can surely dance while fighting for civil rights.

The association's members, who come from all over the country, began operating in 2000 in the context of the Open House gay organization in Jerusalem. But lately they realized they had to take another step to meet the special needs of the Arab gay and lesbian community in Israel, and to preserve their uniqueness and political character. Al-Qaws registered as an independent association, and on March 1 will celebrate the launch of its operations.

The association's director, 29-year-old Haneen Maikey from Jerusalem, says the parties are only one aspect of the group's activities, which include local support groups. "We also provide a personal response to people who come for advice, information and a sympathetic ear, and we organize events as well," she says.

'Badge of shame'

Al-Qaws is the first Palestinian-Israeli organization to cater to the entire gay and lesbian Palestinian population. About five years ago the organization Aswat (Voices) was founded for lesbian, bisexual and transsexual Palestinian women. The organization's members are involved in a variety of feminist and political activities. Last year, when they wanted to hold a large convention in Haifa, the Islamic Movement published a condemnation of the convention and called it a "a badge of shame."

An Arab gay man or lesbian in Israel is doubly excluded: In Arab society they suffer from oppression and discrimination because of their sexual orientation, while in Jewish society they suffer from discrimination for nationalist reasons. Maikey says the Arab gay or lesbian in Israel "remains a stranger even in an accepting environment." Usually their relationships are conducted in Hebrew in an environment different from their original cultural milieu. "So even if it's an accepting environment, you remain a stranger, a kind of 'guest of the culture,' and you have to behave according to rules determined by the other," she says.

According to Maikey, "At the parties many people say that it's important to them that there is finally a framework where you can speak Arabic without fear." At the parties there is a sense of freedom and liberation, one reason being the variety that is celebrated. "There's everything here, and everything is accepted," says one of the female participants. "Arabs, Jews, men, women, lesbians, gays, trans, straights." Another reason for the feeling of liberation is that the parties are a meeting place for many identities, mainly gender and national identities.

"I see the parties as both a path and a goal," says Samira, an activist at Al-Qaws and Aswat. "As far as I'm concerned the parties are part of a way to build a community. It's a social meeting place and the beginning of creating a community. It's also a place where you don't apologize for anything about your identity. In the nightclubs and at other parties we are asked to leave the Palestinian aspect outside the club before we enter. Here it's a place that doesn't ask for that. On the contrary, it nurtures our identity."

Songs of love, and struggle

On the stage the performances are beginning. A drag queen sings a love song by the singer Fairuz, another begins a belly dance. A black drag queen with a dark blond wig, wearing a tunic sewn from a keffiyeh, gets onstage. "I don't care what they say," she sings to her beloved. "Every day I'll be what I want to be."

Later the installation artist R. appears. He is active in the Al-Qaws Tel Aviv-Jaffa branch and organizes exhibitions, but he prefers not to be identified by name. R.'s installations are political and very moving. One can often see people in the audience crying. To the strains of songs of struggle, for the most part by classic singers such as Fairuz or Majida al Romi, he appears as a character he created: "Arus Falastin," The Bride of Palestine. "It reminds people of who they really are," he says.

The conflict and distress supposedly subside at the party, mitigated by drag. R. says that "in recent years, all the drag queens I have encountered came to entertain, to make people laugh, to amuse. Although all drag is political in itself, when it is only amusing it becomes boring in a certain sense. Ordinary people - that doesn't excite anyone any longer."

At the last party R. appeared as a "drag king" in a new character he created: Ahmed Basha. His face adorned with bristles, a keffiyeh on his shoulders, he wears a black shirt with the inscription "Free Palestine."

The song he sings, by Lebanese musician Marcel Khalifa, was written during the first Lebanon war. It tells about a little boy who is playing in the yard, looking for string to fly a kite. Suddenly he sees a plane in the sky, "a kite that doesn't need string," he calls to his friends. The plane then bombs the house and turns everything into fire.

Can we expect a Palestinian gay pride march as well? Is coming out of the closet one of the goals of the association?

Samira says that coming out of the closet is not a sacred goal. She was born and grew up in the North and currently lives with her Jewish partner in Tel Aviv. Her immediate family knows about her sexual identity, but the extended family doesn't know (which is why she prefers to be interviewed without her last name). "For me the issue of visibility is important," she says. But she and Maikey stress that visibility does not necessarily require a gay pride march, but can be achieved by "creating a discourse in society."

Boys Will Be Boys - or Else; Kuwaitis Who Defy... Gender Steretypes... Face Prison... Fine

Boys will be boys - or else

Kuwaitis who defy very narrowly defined gender stereotypes now face prison or a hefty fine

by Brian Whitaker

January 23, 2008 2:00 PM | Printable version

In his book Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the prominent religious scholar, writes:

"The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) declared that a woman should not wear a man's clothing or vice versa. He cursed men who imitate women and women who imitate men ...

"The evil of such conduct, which affects both the life of the individual and that of the society, is that it constitutes a rebellion against the natural ordering of things. According to this natural order, there are men and there are women, and each of the two sexes has its own distinctive characteristics. However, if men become effeminate and women masculinised, this natural order will be reversed and will disintegrate.

"Among those who are cursed by Allah and His Angels, both in this world and in the Hereafter, the Prophet, peace and blessings be on him, has mentioned the man whom Allah has created as male but who becomes effeminate by imitating women, and a woman whom Allah has created as female but who becomes masculinised by imitating men. For this reason the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade men from wearing clothes or things pertaining to women."

According to the website IslamOnline, "Aspects of such imitation include the manner of speaking, walking, dressing, moving, and so on."

Quoting a Saudi scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid, it continues: "Wearing adornments on the wrist and neck, and on the ears is an imitation of women, as this is something that is only for women. So it is not permissible for men to wear bracelets, earrings, anklets, or chains."

The Kuwaiti parliament has now taken this religious advice to heart: on December 10, it amended the 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 (£1,790).

Since then, at least 14 people have been arrested in Kuwait City and thrown into prison for the new offence, according to Human Rights Watch. Several were picked up at police checkpoints, one in a coffee shop and two more in a taxi.

A Kuwaiti newspaper said the "confused" men were "deposited in the special ward" of Tahla prison, and that prison guards shaved their heads "as a form of punishment".

Citing friends of the accused, Human Rights Watch said three of them had been beaten (one of them into unconsciousness) , and all denied access to lawyers.

The Kuwaiti parliament is dominated by conservatives and Islamists who have also been trying to oust the only female member of the country's cabinet. The move against "opposite sex" dressing follows a report last September that the government was launching a campaign "to combat the growing phenomenon of gays and transsexuals".

Human Right Watch believes the new law is particularly targeting transgender people, whose rights are already heavily restricted in Kuwait (they are not allowed to have gender reassignment surgery or to change their legal identity). The treatment of the 14 detainees is also a breach of Kuwait's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the New York-based organisation says.

Several Kuwait MPs have already reacted strongly to the protests from Human Rights Watch.

Duaij al-Shimmari, a member of the Islamic Constitutional Movement, said: "Non-believers have their religion and we have ours ... We will not allow anyone to interfere with our religious beliefs."

Dr Ali al-Omair, a Salafist MP, accused the human rights organisation of luring other nations to practise vice and lewdness in the name of personal freedom, while Faisal al-Muslim, who heads a 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."

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Kuwait: Repressive Dress-Code Law Encourages Police Abuse; Growing Crackdown Against Transgender People

For Immediate Release (Arabic follows)

 

Kuwait: Repressive Dress-Code Law Encourages Police Abuse

Arrests Target Transgender People

 

(New York, January 17, 2008) – Authorities should immediately release more than a dozen persons jailed under Kuwait's new dress-code law, Human Rights Watch said today. The law, approved by the National Assembly on December 10, 2007, criminalizes people who "imitate the appearance of the opposite sex."

 

"The wave of arrests in the past month shows exactly why Kuwait should repeal this repressive law," said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East division at Human Rights Watch. "Kuwaiti authorities should immediately drop all charges against those arrested, and investigate charges of ill-treatment in detention."

 

Security officials have arrested at least 14 people in Kuwait City since the National Assembly approved an addition (Article 199 bis) to Article 198 of the Criminal Code. The amendment states that "any person committing an indecent act in a public place, or imitating the appearance of a member of the opposite sex, shall be subject to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding one thousand dinars [US$3,500]."

 

Dress codes based solely on gender stereotypes restrict both freedom of expression and personal autonomy, Human Rights Watch said. The only known targets of the new Kuwaiti law have been transgender people – individuals born into one gender who deeply identify themselves with another. Kuwait allows transgender people neither to change their legal identity to match the gender in which they live, nor to adapt their physical appearance through gender reassignment surgery. The new law, coming after months of controversy, aims at further restricting their rights and completely eliminating their public presence. In September 2007, the newspaper Al Arabiya reported a new government campaign "to combat the growing phenomenon of gays and transsexuals" in Kuwait.

 

On December 18, 2007, Al Watan newspaper announced the arrests of three people at a police checkpoint in Salimeya, 10 km southeast of Kuwait City. Days later, police arrested three more people at a checkpoint in Kuwait City. On December 21, security officials detained another three people on Restaurant Street in the Hawalli district, 8 km south of Kuwait City. The same day, two other people were detained at another police checkpoint. Authorities have reportedly arrested three more people in January, one in a coffee shop and two in a taxi stopped by police. Police arrested all 14 because they believed they were "imitating the appearance of the opposite sex."

 

All the people detained are being held in Tahla Prison. Friends of the accused told Human Rights Watch that police and prison guards subjected the detainees to physical and psychological abuse. Al-Rai newspaper quoted police as saying that the "confused [men were] deposited in the special ward," and that the prison administration ordered guards to shave their heads as a form of punishment. The paper quoted a prison administrator as saying "this step [shaving heads] follows the passage of the law concerning men who imitate the appearance of women." Friends report that at least three of the prisoners were beaten and one was left unconscious. Authorities deported one Saudi Arabian national among those arrested, to face trial in that country. None of the detainees has access to legal representation.

 

Transgender people in Kuwait tell Human Rights Watch that they are now afraid to leave their homes – even for work or to meet basic needs – for fear of arrest and ill-treatment. Arbitrary and intrusive gender-based codes for acceptable demeanor and dress violate the rights to privacy and to free expression protected under international law. The beatings and ill-treatment to which authorities reportedly subjected the prisoners violate internationally recognized prohibitions against torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

 

"The intent of this measure is clear: to eradicate the freedoms and visibility of people who already face discrimination daily," said Stork. "When states impose dress codes, whether on women or on men, they deny their basic rights to both privacy and free expression."

 

In a December 31 private letter to Kuwait's minister of justice, Abdallah Abd al-Rahman al-Matuq, and to the speaker of the National Assembly, Jassem Al-Kharafi, Human Rights Watch urged the government to release the detainees and drop charges against them. In the same letter, Human Rights Watch called on the government to work toward repealing the recent addition to Article 198.

 

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Kuwait has acceded, sets forth the prohibition against torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 7). Article 14 of the same treaty affirms the right to counsel. The treaty also bars interference with the right to privacy (Article 17) and protects freedom of expression (Article 19). Kuwait has the obligation to respect and ensure these rights, and to do so in a non-discriminatory manner, as set forth in Article 2.

 

The Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (http://www.yogyakar taprinciples. org/), adopted by a group of 29 experts on international human rights law in 2006, calls upon states to "take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure the full enjoyment of the right to express identity or personhood, including through speech, deportment, dress, bodily characteristics, choice of name or any other means" (Principle 19[c]).

 

For more of Human Rights Watch's work on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, please visit:

http://www.hrw. org/doc/? t=lgbt

 

For more information, please contact:

In New York, Scott Long (English): +;1-212-216-1297; or +;1-646-641-5655 (mobile)

In New York, Juliana Cano Nieto (English, Spanish): +;1-212-216-1233; or +;1-646-407-0020 (mobile)

In New York, Christoph Wilcke (English, Arabic, German): +;1-212-216-1295; or +;1-646-322-8355 (mobile)

In Washington, DC, Joe Stork (English): +;1-202-612-4327; or +;1-202-299-4925 (mobile)

 

للنشر الفوري

 

الكويت: قانون التشبه بالجنس الآخر القمعي يشجع على انتهاكات الشرطة

الاعتقالات تستهدف المتحولين جنسياً

 

(نيويورك، 17 يناير/كانون الثاني 2008) قالت هيومن رايتس ووتش اليوم إن على السلطات الكويتية أن تخلي فوراً سبيل أكثر من 12 شخصاً محتجزين بموجب القانون الكويتي الجديد للتشبه بالجنس الآخر. والقانون الذي وافق عليه البرلمان في 10 ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2007، يُجرم الأشخاص الذين يتشبهون بالجنس الآخر.

 

وقال جو ستورك نائب مدير قسم الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا في هيومن رايتس ووتش: "يتضح من حملة الاعتقالات على مدى الشهور السابقة السبب في أنه يجب على الكويت إبطال هذا القانون القمعي". وأضاف قائلاً: "وعلى السلطات الكويتية أن تسقط فوراً كل الاتهامات المنسوبة للمعتقلين، وأن تحقق في المعاملة السيئة التي تعرضوا لها أثناء الاحتجاز".

 

وقام مسؤولون أمنيون باعتقال 14 شخصاً على الأقل في مدينة الكويت منذ وافق البرلمان على إضافة (مادة 199 مكرر) إلى مادة 198 من قانون الجزاء. وجاء في التعديل أن كل من ارتكب في علانية فعلاً فاضحاً أو تشبه في مظهره بالجنس الآخر، يُعاقب بالحبس مدة لا تجاوز سنة واحدة وبغرامة لا تجاوز ألف دينار [3500 دولار].

 

وقالت هيومن رايتس ووتش إن القوانين الخاصة بارتداء أنواع مغايرة من الثياب، والتي تستند فقط إلى التقسيم المألوف للنوع، تقيد كل من حرية التعبير وحرية الشخص في جسده. والعناصر المستهدفة الوحيدة في القانون الكويتي الجديد كانوا من المتحولين جنسياً، وهم أشخاص ولدوا في جنس معين ويعتقدون بشدة أنهم ينتمون لجنسٍ آخر. ولا تسمح دولة الكويت للمتحولين جنسياً بتغيير بطاقات هويتهم لكي تحاكي الجنس الذي يعيشون عليه، ولا هي تسمح بتغيير مظهرهم بواسطة جراحات تغيير الجنس. والقانون الجديد الذي جاء بعد شهور من الجدال والنقاش، يهدف إلى مزيد من التقييد لحقوقهم، ويلغي تماماً تواجدهم العلني. وفي سبتمبر/أيلول 2007 أفادت قناة العربية بحملة حكومية جديدة لمكافحة تزايد ظاهرة المثليين والجنس الثالث في الكويت.

 

وفي 18 ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2007 أعلنت صحيفة الوطن عن اعتقال ثلاثة أشخاص في نقطة تفتيش للشرطة بالسالمية، على مسافة 10 كيلومترات جنوب شرق مدينة الكويت. وبعد أيام اعتقلت الشرطة ثلاثة أشخاص آخرين في شارع المطعم بمحافظة حولي، الواقعة على مسافة 8 كيلومترات جنوبي مدينة الكويت. وفي اليوم نفسه تم احتجاز شخصين آخرين في نقطة تفتيش أخرى. وأفادت السلطات اعتقال ثلاثة أشخاص آخرين في يناير/كانون الثاني، أحدهم في مقهى واثنين في سيارة أجرة أوقفتها الشرطة. واعتقلت الشرطة الـ 14 شخصاً للاشتباه بأنهم يتشبهون بالجنس الآخر.

 

وجميع المقبوض عليهم يتم احتجازهم في سجن طلحة. وقال أصدقاء للمتهمين لـ هيومن رايتس ووتش إن الشرطة وحراس السجن عرضوا المحتجزين لانتهاكات بدنية ونفسية. واقتبست صحيفة الراي قول شرطي بأن: "الرجال الحائرين كانوا معاً في نفس الجناح" وأن إدارة السجن أمرت الحراس بحلق رؤوسهم كنوع من العقاب. واقتبست الصحيفة قول مسؤول بالسجن أن: "هذه الخطوة [حلق الرؤوس] تتبع إصدار القانون الخاص بالرجال المتشبهين بالنساء". وأفاد الأصدقاء بأن ثلاثة سجناء على الأقل تعرضوا للضرب وفقد أحدهم وعيه. وقامت السلطات بترحيل سعودي من بين المعتقلين؛ ليواجه المحاكمة في السعودية. ولم يقابل أي من المحامين دفاع قانوني يمثلهم.

 

ويقول المتحولون جنسياً في الكويت لـ هيومن رايتس ووتش إنهم يخشون الآن مغادرة بيوتهم، حتى للذهاب للعمل والوفاء بالاحتياجات الأساسية، خشية الاعتقال والمعاملة السيئة. والقوانين التعسفية والتدخلية الخاصة بالجنس بخصوص المظهر والثياب المقبولة، تنتهك الحق في الخصوصية وحرية التعبير المنصوص عليهما في القانون الدولي. وينتهك ضرب السلطات المذكور ومعاملتها السيئة للسجناء، الحظر الدولي المتعارف عليه ضد التعذيب وغيرها من ضروب المعاملة أو العقوبة القاسية أو اللاإنسانية أو المهينة.

 

وقال جو ستورك: "النية من هذا الإجراء واضحة، وهي تبديد حريات ورؤى الأشخاص الخاصة، ممن يواجهون بالفعل التمييز يومياً". وأضاف: "وحين تفرض الدول قوانين خاصة بالالتزام بأنواع محددة من الثياب، سواء للرجال أو النساء، فهي تصادر عليهم الحق في الخصوصية وحرية التعبير".

 

وفي رسالة خاصة تم إرسالها في 31 ديسمبر/كانون الأول إلى وزير العدل الكويتي، عبد الله عبد الرحمن المعتوق، وإلى المتحدث باسم مجلس الأمة، جاسم الخرافي، دعت هيومن رايتس ووتش الحكومة إلى إخلاء سبيل المحتجزين وإسقاط التهم المنسوبة إليهم. وفي الرسالة نفسها طالبت هيومن رايتس ووتش الحكومة بالعمل على إلغاء الإضافة المُدخلة مؤخراً على المادة 198.

 

وجاء في العهد الدولي الخاص بالحقوق المدنية والسياسية، والذي صدقت عليه الكويت، الحظر ضد التعذيب والمعاملة أو العقوبة القاسية أو اللاإنسانية أو المهينة (مادة 7). والمادة 14 من العهد نفسه تؤكد على الحق في مشاورة الدفاع. كما يمنع العهد التدخل في الحق في الخصوصية (مادة 17) ويحمي حرية التعبير (مادة 19). والكويت ملزمة باحترام هذه الحقوق وكفالتها، وأن تفعل هذا دون تمييز ضد أي مجموعة من الأشخاص، كما جاء في المادة 2 من العهد.

 

ومبادئ يوغياكارتا حول تطبيق القانون الدولي لحقوق الإنسان فيما يتعلق بالتوجه الجنسي وهوية النوع (http://www.yogyakar taprinciples. org/) التي تبنتها مجموعة من 29 خبيراً في قانون حقوق الإنسان الدولي في عام 2006، تطالب الدول بـ: "اتخاذ الإجراءات التشريعية والإدارية. وغيرها من الإجراءات، لكفالة التمتع الكامل بحق التعبير عن الهوية أو الشخصية، من خلال الكلام أو السلوك أو اللباس أو الخصائص البدنية، أو اختيار الاسم، أو من خلال أية وسيلة أخرى" (المبدأ 19 (ج)).

 

للاطلاع على مزيد من تغطية هيومن رايتس ووتش لحقوق المثليات والمثليين وذوي التفضيل الجنسي المزدوج والمتحولين جنسياً، يُرجى زيارة:

http://www.hrw. org/doc/? t=lgbt

 

لمزيد من المعلومات، يُرجى الاتصال:

في نيويورك، سكوت لونغ (الإنجليزية): +;1-212-216-1297 أو +;1-646-641-5655 (خلوي)

في نيويورك، جوليانا كانو نيتو (الإنجليزية والإسبانية): +;1-212-216-1233 أو +;1-646-407-0020 (خلوي)

في نيويورك، كريستوف ويلكه (الإنجليزية والعربية والألمانية): +;1-212-216-1295 أو +;1-646-322-8355 (خلوي)

في واشنطن، جو ستورك (الإنجليزية): +;1-202-612-4327 أو +;1-202-299-4925 (خلوي)

---

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Kuwait: Repressive Dress-Code Law Encourages Police Abuse

From the Human Rights Watch

For Immediate Release (Arabic follows)

 

Kuwait: Repressive Dress-Code Law Encourages Police Abuse

Arrests Target Transgender People

New York, January 17, 2008) – Authorities should immediately release more than a dozen persons jailed under Kuwait's new dress-code law, Human Rights Watch said today. The law, approved by the National Assembly on December 10, 2007, criminalizes people who "imitate the appearance of the opposite sex."

 

"The wave of arrests in the past month shows exactly why Kuwait should repeal this repressive law," said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East division at Human Rights Watch. "Kuwaiti authorities should immediately drop all charges against those arrested, and investigate charges of ill-treatment in detention."

 

Security officials have arrested at least 14 people in Kuwait City since the National Assembly approved an addition (Article 199 bis) to Article 198 of the Criminal Code. The amendment states that "any person committing an indecent act in a public place, or imitating the appearance of a member of the opposite sex, shall be subject to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding one thousand dinars [US$3,500]."

 

Dress codes based solely on gender stereotypes restrict both freedom of expression and personal autonomy, Human Rights Watch said. The only known targets of the new Kuwaiti law have been transgender people – individuals born into one gender who deeply identify themselves with another. Kuwait allows transgender people neither to change their legal identity to match the gender in which they live, nor to adapt their physical appearance through gender reassignment surgery. The new law, coming after months of controversy, aims at further restricting their rights and completely eliminating their public presence. In September 2007, the newspaper Al Arabiya reported a new government campaign "to combat the growing phenomenon of gays and transsexuals" in Kuwait.

 

On December 18, 2007, Al Watan newspaper announced the arrests of three people at a police checkpoint in Salimeya, 10 km southeast of Kuwait City. Days later, police arrested three more people at a checkpoint in Kuwait City. On December 21, security officials detained another three people on Restaurant Street in the Hawalli district, 8 km south of Kuwait City. The same day, two other people were detained at another police checkpoint. Authorities have reportedly arrested three more people in January, one in a coffee shop and two in a taxi stopped by police. Police arrested all 14 because they believed they were "imitating the appearance of the opposite sex."

 

All the people detained are being held in Tahla Prison. Friends of the accused told Human Rights Watch that police and prison guards subjected the detainees to physical and psychological abuse. Al-Rai newspaper quoted police as saying that the "confused [men were] deposited in the special ward," and that the prison administration ordered guards to shave their heads as a form of punishment. The paper quoted a prison administrator as saying "this step [shaving heads] follows the passage of the law concerning men who imitate the appearance of women." Friends report that at least three of the prisoners were beaten and one was left unconscious. Authorities deported one Saudi Arabian national among those arrested, to face trial in that country. None of the detainees has access to legal representation.

 

Transgender people in Kuwait tell Human Rights Watch that they are now afraid to leave their homes – even for work or to meet basic needs – for fear of arrest and ill-treatment. Arbitrary and intrusive gender-based codes for acceptable demeanor and dress violate the rights to privacy and to free expression protected under international law. The beatings and ill-treatment to which authorities reportedly subjected the prisoners violate internationally recognized prohibitions against torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

 

"The intent of this measure is clear: to eradicate the freedoms and visibility of people who already face discrimination daily," said Stork. "When states impose dress codes, whether on women or on men, they deny their basic rights to both privacy and free expression."

 

In a December 31 private letter to Kuwait's minister of justice, Abdallah Abd al-Rahman al-Matuq, and to the speaker of the National Assembly, Jassem Al-Kharafi, Human Rights Watch urged the government to release the detainees and drop charges against them. In the same letter, Human Rights Watch called on the government to work toward repealing the recent addition to Article 198.

 

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Kuwait has acceded, sets forth the prohibition against torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 7). Article 14 of the same treaty affirms the right to counsel. The treaty also bars interference with the right to privacy (Article 17) and protects freedom of expression (Article 19). Kuwait has the obligation to respect and ensure these rights, and to do so in a non-discriminatory manner, as set forth in Article 2.

 

The Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (http://www.yogyakar taprinciples. org/), adopted by a group of 29 experts on international human rights law in 2006, calls upon states to "take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure the full enjoyment of the right to express identity or personhood, including through speech, deportment, dress, bodily characteristics, choice of name or any other means" (Principle 19[c]).

 

For more of Human Rights Watch's work on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, please visit:

http://www.hrw. org/doc/? t=lgbt

 

For more information, please contact:

In New York, Scott Long (English): +;1-212-216-1297; or +;1-646-641-5655 (mobile)

In New York, Juliana Cano Nieto (English, Spanish): +;1-212-216-1233; or +;1-646-407-0020 (mobile)

In New York, Christoph Wilcke (English, Arabic, German): +;1-212-216-1295; or +;1-646-322-8355 (mobile)

In Washington, DC, Joe Stork (English): +;1-202-612-4327; or +;1-202-299-4925 (mobile)

 

للنشر الفوري

 

الكويت: قانون التشبه بالجنس الآخر القمعي يشجع على انتهاكات الشرطة

الاعتقالات تستهدف المتحولين جنسياً

 

(نيويورك، 17 يناير/كانون الثاني 2008) قالت هيومن رايتس ووتش اليوم إن على السلطات الكويتية أن تخلي فوراً سبيل أكثر من 12 شخصاً محتجزين بموجب القانون الكويتي الجديد للتشبه بالجنس الآخر. والقانون الذي وافق عليه البرلمان في 10 ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2007، يُجرم الأشخاص الذين يتشبهون بالجنس الآخر.

 

وقال جو ستورك نائب مدير قسم الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا في هيومن رايتس ووتش: "يتضح من حملة الاعتقالات على مدى الشهور السابقة السبب في أنه يجب على الكويت إبطال هذا القانون القمعي". وأضاف قائلاً: "وعلى السلطات الكويتية أن تسقط فوراً كل الاتهامات المنسوبة للمعتقلين، وأن تحقق في المعاملة السيئة التي تعرضوا لها أثناء الاحتجاز".

 

وقام مسؤولون أمنيون باعتقال 14 شخصاً على الأقل في مدينة الكويت منذ وافق البرلمان على إضافة (مادة 199 مكرر) إلى مادة 198 من قانون الجزاء. وجاء في التعديل أن كل من ارتكب في علانية فعلاً فاضحاً أو تشبه في مظهره بالجنس الآخر، يُعاقب بالحبس مدة لا تجاوز سنة واحدة وبغرامة لا تجاوز ألف دينار [3500 دولار].

 

وقالت هيومن رايتس ووتش إن القوانين الخاصة بارتداء أنواع مغايرة من الثياب، والتي تستند فقط إلى التقسيم المألوف للنوع، تقيد كل من حرية التعبير وحرية الشخص في جسده. والعناصر المستهدفة الوحيدة في القانون الكويتي الجديد كانوا من المتحولين جنسياً، وهم أشخاص ولدوا في جنس معين ويعتقدون بشدة أنهم ينتمون لجنسٍ آخر. ولا تسمح دولة الكويت للمتحولين جنسياً بتغيير بطاقات هويتهم لكي تحاكي الجنس الذي يعيشون عليه، ولا هي تسمح بتغيير مظهرهم بواسطة جراحات تغيير الجنس. والقانون الجديد الذي جاء بعد شهور من الجدال والنقاش، يهدف إلى مزيد من التقييد لحقوقهم، ويلغي تماماً تواجدهم العلني. وفي سبتمبر/أيلول 2007 أفادت قناة العربية بحملة حكومية جديدة لمكافحة تزايد ظاهرة المثليين والجنس الثالث في الكويت.

 

وفي 18 ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2007 أعلنت صحيفة الوطن عن اعتقال ثلاثة أشخاص في نقطة تفتيش للشرطة بالسالمية، على مسافة 10 كيلومترات جنوب شرق مدينة الكويت. وبعد أيام اعتقلت الشرطة ثلاثة أشخاص آخرين في شارع المطعم بمحافظة حولي، الواقعة على مسافة 8 كيلومترات جنوبي مدينة الكويت. وفي اليوم نفسه تم احتجاز شخصين آخرين في نقطة تفتيش أخرى. وأفادت السلطات اعتقال ثلاثة أشخاص آخرين في يناير/كانون الثاني، أحدهم في مقهى واثنين في سيارة أجرة أوقفتها الشرطة. واعتقلت الشرطة الـ 14 شخصاً للاشتباه بأنهم يتشبهون بالجنس الآخر.

 

وجميع المقبوض عليهم يتم احتجازهم في سجن طلحة. وقال أصدقاء للمتهمين لـ هيومن رايتس ووتش إن الشرطة وحراس السجن عرضوا المحتجزين لانتهاكات بدنية ونفسية. واقتبست صحيفة الراي قول شرطي بأن: "الرجال الحائرين كانوا معاً في نفس الجناح" وأن إدارة السجن أمرت الحراس بحلق رؤوسهم كنوع من العقاب. واقتبست الصحيفة قول مسؤول بالسجن أن: "هذه الخطوة [حلق الرؤوس] تتبع إصدار القانون الخاص بالرجال المتشبهين بالنساء". وأفاد الأصدقاء بأن ثلاثة سجناء على الأقل تعرضوا للضرب وفقد أحدهم وعيه. وقامت السلطات بترحيل سعودي من بين المعتقلين؛ ليواجه المحاكمة في السعودية. ولم يقابل أي من المحامين دفاع قانوني يمثلهم.

 

ويقول المتحولون جنسياً في الكويت لـ هيومن رايتس ووتش إنهم يخشون الآن مغادرة بيوتهم، حتى للذهاب للعمل والوفاء بالاحتياجات الأساسية، خشية الاعتقال والمعاملة السيئة. والقوانين التعسفية والتدخلية الخاصة بالجنس بخصوص المظهر والثياب المقبولة، تنتهك الحق في الخصوصية وحرية التعبير المنصوص عليهما في القانون الدولي. وينتهك ضرب السلطات المذكور ومعاملتها السيئة للسجناء، الحظر الدولي المتعارف عليه ضد التعذيب وغيرها من ضروب المعاملة أو العقوبة القاسية أو اللاإنسانية أو المهينة.

 

وقال جو ستورك: "النية من هذا الإجراء واضحة، وهي تبديد حريات ورؤى الأشخاص الخاصة، ممن يواجهون بالفعل التمييز يومياً". وأضاف: "وحين تفرض الدول قوانين خاصة بالالتزام بأنواع محددة من الثياب، سواء للرجال أو النساء، فهي تصادر عليهم الحق في الخصوصية وحرية التعبير".

 

وفي رسالة خاصة تم إرسالها في 31 ديسمبر/كانون الأول إلى وزير العدل الكويتي، عبد الله عبد الرحمن المعتوق، وإلى المتحدث باسم مجلس الأمة، جاسم الخرافي، دعت هيومن رايتس ووتش الحكومة إلى إخلاء سبيل المحتجزين وإسقاط التهم المنسوبة إليهم. وفي الرسالة نفسها طالبت هيومن رايتس ووتش الحكومة بالعمل على إلغاء الإضافة المُدخلة مؤخراً على المادة 198.

 

وجاء في العهد الدولي الخاص بالحقوق المدنية والسياسية، والذي صدقت عليه الكويت، الحظر ضد التعذيب والمعاملة أو العقوبة القاسية أو اللاإنسانية أو المهينة (مادة 7). والمادة 14 من العهد نفسه تؤكد على الحق في مشاورة الدفاع. كما يمنع العهد التدخل في الحق في الخصوصية (مادة 17) ويحمي حرية التعبير (مادة 19). والكويت ملزمة باحترام هذه الحقوق وكفالتها، وأن تفعل هذا دون تمييز ضد أي مجموعة من الأشخاص، كما جاء في المادة 2 من العهد.

 

ومبادئ يوغياكارتا حول تطبيق القانون الدولي لحقوق الإنسان فيما يتعلق بالتوجه الجنسي وهوية النوع (http://www.yogyakar taprinciples. org/) التي تبنتها مجموعة من 29 خبيراً في قانون حقوق الإنسان الدولي في عام 2006، تطالب الدول بـ: "اتخاذ الإجراءات التشريعية والإدارية. وغيرها من الإجراءات، لكفالة التمتع الكامل بحق التعبير عن الهوية أو الشخصية، من خلال الكلام أو السلوك أو اللباس أو الخصائص البدنية، أو اختيار الاسم، أو من خلال أية وسيلة أخرى" (المبدأ 19 (ج)).

 

للاطلاع على مزيد من تغطية هيومن رايتس ووتش لحقوق المثليات والمثليين وذوي التفضيل الجنسي المزدوج والمتحولين جنسياً، يُرجى زيارة:

http://www.hrw. org/doc/? t=lgbt

 

لمزيد من المعلومات، يُرجى الاتصال:

في نيويورك، سكوت لونغ (الإنجليزية): +;1-212-216-1297 أو +;1-646-641-5655 (خلوي)

في نيويورك، جوليانا كانو نيتو (الإنجليزية والإسبانية): +;1-212-216-1233 أو +;1-646-407-0020 (خلوي)

في نيويورك، كريستوف ويلكه (الإنجليزية والعربية والألمانية): +;1-212-216-1295 أو +;1-646-322-8355 (خلوي)

في واشنطن، جو ستورك (الإنجليزية): +;1-202-612-4327 أو +;1-202-299-4925 (خلوي)

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