A chance for freedom and safety

Hi there, I am Elisabeth! I opened this account for my friend Barry to help him to get to a safe place....here is his story...

Hi my name is Barry, and I live in Egypt.

In 2017 a concert took a place in cairo,Egypt which included 3 different bands one of the bands had a gay member.

Some members of the LGBT community raised the rainbow flag in cairo’s sky that night, i attended the concert, yet I didn’t take part of raising the flag.

The day after police men started to arrest some of the people involved in raising the flag.

Meanwhile i have been speaking with a guy on Grindr for a month, we never met and we agreed on meeting the next morning after the concert.

We agreed on the location and time.

I go there, send the guy, he says 5 minutes

So i place my phone in my back-bag raise my head up to find myself surrounded by 5 men saying that’s him! That’s the faggot.

They snitch my phone, bag and i’m in handcuffs

I got arrested just for using gay dating application.

I go to court and hear judge saying i should serve 6 years in prison and 6 years under watch

I get a lawyer and he manage to have me serving 6 months in prison and 6 months under watch

That was 5 years ago and i still pay for it until today, i’m not able to find a decent job because none would accept to hire me in Egypt knowing that i’m gay with a criminal record that proves it.

Every-time i pass by a check point they have to keep me for at least 4 hours until they run checks on me, make sure i have no other charges.

I have to leave Egypt ASAP. Go somewhere else and start a new live.

Wish if u guys can help.

More details are found below

When i got arrested i have been kept in a cell for a day, and it was enough for them to fake the whole conversation I originally had.

They made it an agreement on sex even tho i was meeting the guy for coffee and we spoke nothing about sex.

The next morning they sent me to court where i met a lawyer who obviously had previous notice of my charges.

He came looking for me and i had no idea who he was. But he knew all about it and said he’s been taking care of such charges for long time,

He requested my parents contacts and went inside with me to one of the police men who was responsible for the investigation with me

By the time they already had access to my phone and saw a picture i posted from the concert and that was how they connected my charges with the concert.

Right after the investigation i was sent to a police station where they offered my freedom for the price of giving them names of other LGBT.

The only way i could get away from doing it was telling them i don’t live in cairo and that i just arrived for the concert and i was about to leave.

Next day i was sent to the court again to meet the judge and he said i should be jailed for 6 years and spend another 6 years under watch

So i go to the police station everyday from 6 pm until 6 am for 6 years.

After a months in the police station my lawyer managed to reduce that to 6 months in prison and 6 under watch.

I spent another 2 weeks in the police station until they moved me to a prison with 9 other LGBT members with the same charges and similar charges.

I spent 7 months in prison, and 5 months in police station.

So i serve that and I’m finally done

I try to go on with my life, rent a place, find a job and pretend what happened has never happened.

I do that only to find out a year later that they faked new charge for me

They said i have missed 1 day of the observation

That means I haven’t gone to the police station for one night during my observation period. Which’s not true

And again, i end up in jail once again for a week.

Problem is now i have a criminal record with two charges. That means i can never go on with my life in Egypt.

Every time they stop me in a check point i have to provide them documents that prove i have served that time. Yet they would keep me for 4 or more hours for absolutely no valid reason.

Right now I can’t move around Egypt freely, I can’t find a job. And it is simply impossible to live.

The worst part about it is that they can simply drag me into more charges at any point.

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I’m raising that fund because i have to leave asap

My plan is keep the money in my bank account for 6 months, because in order for me to get a visa to Europe i have to have money that covers the whole trip in my bank account 6 months before applying for the visa.

Also i’m doing it now because this is my last chance. I’m a student will start my 3rd year in few months, if i finish third year I won’t be able to leave Egypt because i’ll be forced to serve in the military.

I can only leave in the midterm or end term vacation. So i have less than a year to get my visa and everything settled.

My plans are to go to somewhere in Europe not sure where exactly yet. I’m doing my research on the best fit for me

Where i can be safe, and act just like myself.

I’ll use that money to buy a flight ticket, pay for the visa. And keep the rest to help me start a life in Europe, since I won’t be able to work for a year once i apply for asylum.

Here’s a link of one of the Egyptian newspapers addressing the concert

https://m.youm7.com/story/2017/9/25/القبض-على-7-مثليين-رفعوا-أعلام-الشواذ-بحفل-مشروع-ليلى/3428951