CAIRO: A transgender woman was tortured and sexually assaulted by police in Kuwait, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday, demanding that the officers responsible for the assault are held accountable. The report from the New York-based human rights organization said that police discriminating against certain people based on legislation that criminalizes “imitating the opposite sex.” As such, transgender women – those who are born male, but identify as female – have been targeted, HRW said. “The arbitrary and ill-defined provisions of the law have allowed numerous abuses to take place against them,” said the 63-page report based on interviews with 40 transgender women, as well as with interior ministry officials, lawyers, doctors, and members of civil society. Kuwaiti police have a free rein to determine whether a person's appearance constitutes “imitating the opposite sex,” without any specific criteria being laid down for the offence, it said. Transgender women reported being arrested even when they were wearing male clothes and then later being forced by police to dress in women's clothing. The report also said transgender women were arrested them because they had a “soft voice” or “smooth skin.” “No one – regardless of his or her gender identity – deserves to be arrested on the basis of a vague, arbitrary law and then abused and tortured by police,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director. “The Kuwaiti government has a duty to protect all of its residents, including groups who face popular disapproval, from brutal police behaviour and the application of an unfair law,” she said in a statement. Abuses include degrading and humiliating treatment, such as being forced to strip and paraded around police stations, being forced to dance for officers, sexual humiliation, verbal taunts and intimidation, HRW said. “In several cases, Human Rights Watch found that police officers took advantage of the law to blackmail transgender women into sex,” the report said. Redress for these violations was difficult for fear of retribution and re-arrest, said the rights watchdog. “HRW calls on the Kuwaiti government to repeal the amendment to article 198, criminalising imitating the opposite sex,” the report said. The LGBT community in the Middle East continues to face horrifying conditions, said Egyptian lesbian “Sarah” who asked for her name to remain anonymous. “We have long tried to fit into society and not demand our rights, but it doesn't matter,” she told Bikyamasr.com. “We are targeted if we look any different that others on the street and are beaten and abused. It is horrifying.” There are limited statistics available on the number of homosexuals in the Middle East, and in many countries, it is illegal to be gay and punishable with harsh jail sentences. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/AEDxm Tags: Assault, featured, LGBT, Torture, Transgender Section: Human Rights, Kuwait, Latest News, Women
