Egypt jails eight men for three years after video of country’s 'first gay wedding' goes viral

An Egyptian court has sentenced eight men to three years in jail today after they appeared in an online video purportedly showing the country's first gay marriage ceremony. The men were found guilty of spreading indecent images and inciting debauchery over a video that appeared to show them celebrating a gay marriage, which went viral in August. Footage shows two men exchanging rings and embracing while friends cheer in the background. The video was filmed on board a boat in the Nile.
 
The men were first charged in September when a public prosecutor's statement said that the images were “humiliating, regrettable and would anger God”.The prosecutor also ordered the coroner to carry out physical examinations as part of the investigation.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/egypt-jails-eight-men-for-three-years-after-video-of-countrys-first-gay-wedding-goes-viral-9833081.html


Egypt may have thwarted an attempt by Islamist to install a theocracy through attempting to gain more powers for a president, but it is evident Egypt is still a theocracy, classing a deity as the supreme ruler and judge.
The problem of religions, placing judgement on something that is a figment of imagination, something they cannot prove exists, so wrong on any logical and moral level.

This is the problem with religion, in general, interfering with societies and people. There was never any illusion though that the new Egyptian regime was in anyway going to conflict with Islamic ideology in any remarkable way. This story would have the same outcome under Mubarak and possibly worse under Morsi. Egypt is and will remain as backward as the rest of North Africa for the forseeable future.

It is still better off under Sisi than Morsi however.

What is always most pathetic is how humans enforce punishment based ob what they think would 'anger God'. I'm quite sure any 'god' should one exist, would be more than capable of enacting its own punishment should it be so offended ;-)

I still cannot fathom why people, who believe in a being who gave us free-will, would punish a consensual loving couple who acted free-willingly!

eddie wrote:I still cannot fathom why people, who believe in a being who gave us free-will, would punish a consensual loving couple who acted free-willingly!

+1

Exactly, if a deity exists and creates love, why would it punish something it created?
None of us can control who we love, there is no free will in being in love. So even more so, no supreme intelligence would punish something, so out of our control, where we are just playing out what this deity created.

what amuses me is this

IF for the sake of argument we assume the existance of this "abrahamic deity", you do resalise ALL these sanctimonious "keepers of the truth" and "warriors of god2 i.e the priests immans and the various "high minded" (in their own view) "gods executioners" are ALL, every single one of them, going straight to hell

EVERY person who has raised religious objections and taken even the slightest action against a gay person is bound for the pit.

EVERY person who has said "I will punish you for failing to follow gods commands" is bound for an eternity of torment....

think on it well, because every time some religious zealot IMPOSES or attempts to impose such ideology

THEY ARE GUILTY OF BLASPHEMY or WORSE
they are denying the divine nature of their deity.
they are denying the ability of the deity to "deal" with rule breakers

they are in fact saying, with NO room for argument, that their god is so weak he cannot manage to punish a sinner...and that "they" therefore claim the right to do so in his stead...
OR

they are effectually saying that their deity is such a moral coward that he has to "punish (i.e often kill) via a proxy, in order to have keep his hands "clean"

Any argument otherwise is bound to be circular and invalid.

If they say "god told us this" then they reinforce the above since WHY would god tell them this

could it THEN be true that indeed their deity is weak and/or a moral coward?
or are they just seeking excuses to act like the barbarian primitives most of them are ......

victorisnotamused wrote:what amuses me is this

IF for the sake of argument we assume the existance of this "abrahamic deity", you do resalise ALL these sanctimonious "keepers of the truth" and "warriors of god2 i.e the priests immans and the various "high minded" (in their own view) "gods executioners" are ALL, every single one of them, going straight to hell

EVERY person who has raised religious objections and taken even the slightest action against a gay person is bound for the pit.

EVERY person who has said "I will punish you for failing to follow gods commands" is bound for an eternity of torment....

think on it well, because every time some religious zealot IMPOSES or attempts to impose such ideology

THEY ARE GUILTY OF BLASPHEMY or WORSE
they are denying the divine nature of their deity.
they are denying the ability of the deity to "deal" with rule breakers

they are in fact saying, with NO room for argument, that their god is so weak he cannot manage to punish a sinner...and that "they" therefore claim the right to do so in his stead...
OR

they are effectually saying that their deity is such a moral coward that he has to "punish (i.e often kill) via a proxy, in order to have keep his hands "clean"

Any argument otherwise is bound to be circular and invalid.

If they say "god told us this" then they reinforce the above since WHY would god tell them this

could it THEN be true that indeed their deity is weak and/or a moral coward?
or are they just seeking excuses to act like the barbarian primitives most of them are ......

Hold my hat off to that. It has to be the best and most logical, rational point put across to date I have heard in regards to religion.
Was excellent.

Catch you later.

eddie wrote:I still cannot fathom why people, who believe in a being who gave us free-will, would punish a consensual loving couple who acted free-willingly!

It's written in a book that's over 1000 years old... must be true right...

The Mubarak era and most of the cronies are back with a vengeance and it's worse than ever.

If someone would like to read through the Amnesty International report and point out what progress has been made in the last couple of years.

On the eve of the third anniversary of the “25 January Revolution”, the human rights outlook in Egypt remains grim. Chief among the triggers of the uprising in 2011 were growing levels of poverty and inequality, soaring unemployment, endemic corruption, police brutality and other human rights violations. After three years of chaotic transition, the revolt’s root causes not only remain but in some cases have grown more acute. This briefing details Amnesty International’s main concerns about developments in the human rights situation in Egypt since the removal of Mohamed Morsi from the presidency in July 2013.

Here's the full report...

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE12/005/2014/en/cddf8bfb-6dcb-45b2-b411-6d12190b7583/mde120052014en.pdf

Or save yourself the bother by reading the summing up on the Amnesty International website...

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/egypt-three-years-wide-scale-repression-continues-unabated-2014-01-23

That's life under the Egyptian military. The run everything and anyone who stands in their way is quickly removed.