Egypt sentences TV host to jail for interviewing gay man

CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced a television host to one year in prison for interviewing a gay man last year, a judicial source said.

Mohamed al-Gheiti, who has expressed his stance against homosexuality on several occasions, was accused of promoting homosexuality and contempt of religion.

The misdemeanors court in Giza also fined him 3,000 Egyptian pounds ($147) and ordered that he be put under surveillance for one year after serving his sentence, said Samir Sabri, the lawyer who brought the case against him.

The verdict can be appealed, and it can be suspended if Gheiti pays bail of 1,000 pounds, pending the outcome of the appeal, said Sabri.

In August 2018, Gheiti hosted a gay man on his talk show on the private LTC TV station, and discussed homosexuality on air.

During the interview, the gay man, whose face was blurred to hide his identity, said he was a sex worker and openly talked about his relationship with another man.

After the interview was aired, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, Egypt’s top media body, suspended the channel for two weeks for “professional violations.”

In a statement at the time, the council said the LTC TV had violated its decision “banning the appearance of homosexuals or promotion of their slogans.”

The council banned the appearance of homosexuals on any outlet, after a rainbow flag — symbolic of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community — was waved during a Cairo concert in 2017.

At the time, the authorities launched a large-scale crackdown on suspected homosexuals, triggering condemnation from right groups.

Homosexuality is not expressly outlawed in Egypt, but gays have previously been charged with debauchery in the deeply conservative Muslim society.