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(Dubai) More than two dozen people described by the government as gay have been arrested at what police called "a mass homosexual wedding" and could face Sharia court imposed male hormone treatments, five years in jail and a lashing, authorities in the United Arab Emirates told the Associated Press on Saturday.

The Interior Ministry said police raided a hotel earlier this month and arrested 22 men from the Emirates as they celebrated the wedding ceremony. It was the latest in a string of recent group arrests of suspected gay men.

The men are likely to be tried under Muslim law on charges related to adultery and prostitution, Interior Ministry spokesman Issam Azouri told the Associated Press.

But, it is not clear if those arrested were all gay men or if some were transsexuals. The transgendered have no legal recognition in the Emirates and sexual minorities in the region are often lumped into one category, homosexual.

Azouri told the AP that police, acting on a tip, raided a hotel in Ghantout, a desert region on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway, and found a dozen men dressed as female brides and a dozen others in male Arab dress. "It was a real party with balloons and champagne,'' he said.

[...]

Azouri described the arrests in Ghantout as a "delicate" matter made public for the first time - more than a week after the event _ because the country's tribal leadership wants to demonstrate it will not tolerate open homosexuality.

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[ 26 November 2005: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]

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Originally posted by Hephaestion:
That was quite an interesting insight, ephemeral. You sound like you've been there...?

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Originally posted by Hephaestion:
I'm tempted to say "at the end of a gun barrel."

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[ 28 November 2005: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]

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Originally posted by Ghost of the Navigator:
The UAE is a staunch American ally.

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(Dubai) An official spokesperson for the government of the United Arab Emirates on Monday said that an Interior Ministry worker who suggested men arrested at a purported gay wedding could be forced by the government to receive male hormone shots was speaking only for himself.

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... on Monday, Colonel Mohammed Ibrahim Al Hajiri, of the Public Relations Department, did not dispute the arrests and said the investigation is ongoing and that no official charges had been laid.

"The reports in local newspapers and foreign news agencies which quoted the Ministry of Interior on the issue of youths arrested in connection with a gay party is nothing but a personal analysis of the issue," said Col. Hajiri.

"It has nothing to do with the ongoing investigation of the accused. It is not necessarily the ministry¹s opinion on the issue and does not represent the viewpoint of any of the authorities concerned." Hajiri said.

He added that the fate of the 22 would be left to the judiciary - a Sharia court. But, he would not say whether a court could order forced male hormone injections.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack denounced the possibility.

"We call on the government of the United Arab Emirates to immediately stop any ordered hormone and psychological treatment and to comply with the standards of international law," he said in a statement.

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Following the arrests at the mass gay wedding, it appears that a cop is suspected of having taken mobile phone pictures of the accused when they were in police detention. He stands to lose his job and is being interrogated by "competent" Abu Dhabi Police authorities.

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Originally posted by Nes Lessman:

What the hell has that got to do with it?
Is Iran also a staunch American ally?

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It has nothing "to do with it", but it is simply another example of american hypocrisy. Iran would be an ally of the u.s. if it was a good little muslim nation and stopped trying to make nukes. That Iran has a deplorable human rights record is not the reason why there is tension between it and the u.s.

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A United Emirates police officer who took part in the arrests of two dozen men at what police called "a mass homosexual wedding" is under investigation for taking cell phone pictures of some of the accused.

The pictures were reportedly taken while they were in police detention in Abu Dubai.  The pictures were then sent to a number of other people.

Local media reports say that if an internal affairs investigation finds the officer guilty he could lose his job.

The complaint appears not to involve an infringement on the rights of the accused but in disseminating "immoral" pictures. 

Police Lieutenant-Colonel Najm Abdullah Sayyar Al Hosani said that pictures of gay men were contrary to the teachings of religion, and an affront to the social stability the UAE.

He urged anyone who may have received the pictures to destroy them.

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[ 06 December 2005: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]

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Originally posted by Clog-boy:
But for this reason...? I know UAE is "quite" homophobic, but that it would go this far...?!
I'm dumbfounded...

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Twenty-six men arrested at what police in the United Arab Emirates called a "gay wedding" have been sentenced each to five years in prison.

The men were charged with homosexuality, a crime under Sharia law, although police acknowledged that non of the men were engaged in a sexual act when police raided the event.

Press reports from the capital say that the men did not deny being gay, although some of the accused reportedly identify as transgendered.

Lawyers familiar with the case say the sentences are likely to be appealed.

[...]

In handing down its sentence Friday the court did not mention either hormone injections or lashings.

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As was asked, what would be the medical effect of male hormone (testosterone, presumably) injections? It seems to me that someone in the UAE has some wacky medical knowledge and may find that the testosterone injections will not have the desired effect.

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