Persecution of Homosexuals (Lebanon)

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Two lesbians arrested for engaging in “unnatural” sexual practices

Two lesbians were arrested Thursday for engaging in “unnatural” sexual practices, under orders from Mount Lebanon’s Public Prosecution Office.

According to judicial sources, the women, who were caught in flagrante delicto, confessed to having relations for several years and said they wished to be united in matrimony. The sources said the two also sought to have a test-tube baby together, and affirmed to Mount Lebanon assistant public prosecutor Shawki Hajjar that they would join each other once released from jail.

Hajjar ordered that each woman be held in custody in a separate cell on charges of having unnatural sexual relations. Article 534 of the penal code identifies having sexual relations “contradicting the laws of nature” as a crime carrying a penalty of up to one year in prison.

The sources said the women’s relationship was exposed after police stormed one of their homes to recover money and jewelry allegedly stolen from the mother of one of the women. The mother had filed a complaint against her daughter, accusing her of stealing the valuables.

Both women were also charged with theft, which under Article 636 carries a penalty of between two months and three years in prison.

Two lesbians arrested for ‘unnatural’ sex
Ahbab News, August 23, 2002

Asylum seeker whose former lover was beaten and his gay cousin was shot in the anus and later killed, fears being arrested, tortured, or killed if sent back to Lebanon

A gay Lebanese man suffering from AIDS has enough reason to fear persecution in his native country that he shouldn’t be deported while he is seeking asylum in the United States, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The ninth U.S. circuit court of appeals, reversing the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals in Washington, found Monday that Nassier Mustapha Karouni’s fear of being arrested, tortured, or killed in a country where homosexuality is considered a crime was based in fact and not just emotion. “The record demonstrates that...militants and certain factions of the Lebanese and local governments are a credible threat to homosexuals like Karouni,” Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the three-judge panel.

In determining that Karouni’s sexual orientation makes him eligible for refugee status, the court rejected the Justice Department’s argument that Karouni could avoid the fate of gay friends who were beaten, jailed, or murdered if he refrained from having sex upon his return home. “The attorney general appears content with saddling Karouni with the Hobson’s choice of returning to Lebanon and either facing persecution for engaging in future homosexual acts or living a life of celibacy. In our view, neither option is acceptable,” Pregerson wrote.
. . .
Karouni first came to the United States on a visitor’s visa in 1987 and applied for asylum in 1998. Immigration officials ordered him deported for overstaying his visa, and he appealed, citing the experience of a former lover who was beaten and a gay cousin who was shot in the anus and later killed, allegedly by members of the militant Islamic group Hezbollah.

He also testified that two men armed with machine guns came to his apartment after learning that he had been in a relationship with another man and that if he returned to Lebanon, he would not be able to receive treatment for AIDS.

Fear of Persecution Gets Gay Lebanese Man Asylum Hearing
The Advocate, March 9, 2005

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