Before Omar leaves the house in the morning, he carefully uninstalls the apps on his phone one by one – no WhatsAppNo FacebookNo Mill,
“The paranoia is constant,” said 19-year-old Egyptian gay man, who asked Thomson Reuters Foundation Do not identify your hometown or real name for your own safety.
If a policeman searches his phone, a WhatsApp conversation or Facebook Omar could be prosecuted under laws banning “obscenity” and “prostitution” for taking selfies – routinely used in Egypt to criminalize citizens for being gay.
Cleaning your phone has become a daily routine. “It’s like brushing my teeth,” Omar said. Around the world, marginalized communities worry that the Internet is no longer a safe place for them as surveillance increases and hate speech goes unchecked.
Police violence is among the many challenges facing LGBTQ individuals in Tunisia. Tunisian prominent LGBTQ activist Badr Babu has a picture of himself after being assaulted and beaten up. (AP Photo / Hassan Dridi)
An in-depth study of court files published on Monday found that police forces in Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon are increasingly relying on digital tools to identify, trap and prosecute. LGBTQ+ people – thus “intensifying anti-queue surveillance”.
A study by researcher Afsen Rigot, supported by data rights group Article 19 and Harvard Law School, suggests that the safety of LGBQT+ people in the Middle East may be compromised by their digital footprint.
Rigot examined revised paperwork for 29 cases against LGBTQ+ people in Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon from 2011 to 2020, involving gay men, lesbians, trans women and non-citizens, and nearly two that killed dozens of victims and Interviewed lawyers.
A fan of Lebanese alternative rock band Mashru Leila holds a rainbow flag during their concert at the Ehdeniyat International Festival in the city of Ehden, Lebanon on August 12, 2017. (Jamal Saidi/Reuters file)
According to their 130-page report, authorities are prosecuting people under a hybrid of LGBTQ+ and cybercrime laws, some apps, images deemed “emigrating” and even the presence of spontaneous conversations. using the. used.
Police in Egypt used sting operations to trap people through dating apps, while authorities in Tunisia and Lebanon face additional charges after searches of detainees’ phones.
Spokesmen for Tunisia’s Ministry of Justice and Interior, Egypt’s Interior Ministry and Lebanese Security Forces did not respond to requests for comment.
People attend the memorial to Sarah Hegazzi on June 19, 2020 in Amsterdam. She was an Egyptian LGBTQ activist who died by suicide. He was arrested after hoisting a rainbow flag during a concert in Egypt. In jail, he alleged that he was sexually abused. (Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The study noted that LGBTQ+ people’s phones were being treated as a virtual “crime scene” – a treasure hunt for “evidence”. It said the official mining of suspects’ social media and messaging apps to fabricate the case indicates a new and dangerous trend.
“Their identity is being tested,” Rigot said. To survive, queer people are being forced to erase and hide key elements of themselves from the internet.
easy to sue
In Lebanon, advocates have documented hundreds of cases of LGBTQ+ people criminalizing “unnatural” sexual acts under Article 534 of the Penal Code.
In Tunisia, “sodomy” could face up to three years in prison, and police are classifying online digital communication between LGBTQ+ individuals as a “crime”, the report said.
Egyptian authorities were most aggressive in targeting the gay community, Rigot and other advocates, in cases often referred to newly-empowered “economic courts” that prosecute “abuse” of telecommunications.
One victim interviewed in the report said, “Egyptian police “target gay hot spots, just randomly arresting people based on their looks and searching their phones and if they find anything.” “So they use it as evidence.”
A 2016 protest in Beirut, Lebanon, called for the release of four transgender people detained by police. (Anwar Amro/Agence France-Press – Getty Images)
Rasha Yunus, who researches LGBTQ+ rights in this area for Human Rights Watch, said, “Many countries are now enacting cybercrime laws in these cases to counter anti-LGBT laws.”
These tactics destroyed the “breathing room” the online world had given to gay people in largely gay societies, the effects of which he described as “absolutely disastrous”.
In Egypt, Omar said that he lived a double life.
he never talks about being gay WhatsAppUses fake names on all dating apps, will never satisfy online romantic interest in person and avoids neighborhoods where police can set up checkpoints.
“I have to live like a spy,” he said. “Almost no one knows who I really am.”
creative mistake
With Tunisia in political turmoil, Lebanon in financial meltdown and Egypt extensively restricting civil liberties, advocates in each country said widespread legal reform was unlikely.
Instead, LGBTQ+ organizations and advocates are advising communities to regularly ditch their devices, offer tips on digital security, and win tech cases.
“I tell my customers, ‘Don’t leave anything on your phone – always assume the phone will be confiscated’,” said Youmna Makhlouf in Lebanon, who has defended LGBTQ+ people in court.
Protesters call for gender equality and LGBT rights on National Women’s Day in Tunisia in August 2018.
Photograph: Chedley Ben Ibrahim / NoorPhoto / Getty Images
Tunisian lawyer Ala Khmeri said he tried to demonstrate that phone and laptop searches were conducted without warrants of acquittal or delayed sentencing against LGBTQ+ people.
“Lawyers use this lack of permission and authorization as our legal defense,” he said.
The report also noted that there was “corporate collusion in the prosecution of LGBTQ people in Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia” – meaning the apps also shared some responsibility.
All of Rigot’s interviewees mentioned the popular messaging platform WhatsApp as possibly exposing them, and the report found that in about 30 cases its screenshots were used to prove someone was LGBTQ+.
“Most of the apps we are using are not designed for people queuing in high-risk environments,” said Egyptian privacy expert Remi Roff. “It forces queer people to become digital security experts on their own.”
Some companies have taken action. WhatsApp Its public policy manager, Katherine Harnett, said it provides missing messages and end-to-end encrypted backups for added security.
“When you design with the most at-risk groups in mind, it benefits everyone,” she said.
Mill It offered a slew of features, including locked screenshots, regular security advice, and a version of the dating app that can be carefully installed – some tailored for specific high-risk countries.
“We have tried to minimize the amount of evidence available to the police as much as possible,” said grinder Equality director Jack Harrison.
He added that firms need to continually update equipment to protect vulnerable users, but not to completely rule out dangerous places.
“The benefits of providing the space and capacity to connect queer people far outweigh the risks,” he said.
Rigot agreed that LGBTQ+ and mainstream apps are major bridges of connection in hostile and secluded environments.
“It’s a vibrant and beautiful community online,” she said, but added that platforms could ensure that all users were safe by prioritizing the most vulnerable. “Technology is not neutral in this regard.”