2 transgender women arrested on prostitution charges

A transgender woman known as Malooka al-Daloua was arrested on Monday on charges of prostitution and posting sexually explicit videos online.

The facts surrounding the police raid on Malooka’s apartment and her subsequent arrest are still unclear, as information is primarily being circulated in sensationalist media reports.

According to local reports, the 25-year-old was arrested on Monday in Cairo’s Al-Daher district.

The privately owned newspaper Al-Wafd alleged that Malooka was being held in solitary confinement at a October 6 City police station, as police forces declined to place her in either the men’s or women’s detention cells.

The privately owned Youm7 news outlet accused Malooka of being the ringleader of Egypt’s “largest network of sexual perversion,” which she allegedly co-runs with another transgender woman known as Aida.

Aida is also reportedly in detention, but her whereabouts are unknown.

Al-Wafd and other local news outlets reported that Malooka posted “lewd” and “wanton” video clips on YouTube that promote “sexual perversion."

The most recent video clips uploaded on a YouTube channel bearing Malooka’s name were posted in 2013. They show her dancing in lingerie or short dresses, but do not involve any nudity or sex acts.

Police sources are quoted in numerous local media reports claiming that Malooka helped to lead a “sadistic sex ring” catering primarily to gay men.

According to Youm7, during the raid on Malooka’s and Aida’s apartments police confiscated sex toys, wigs, alcohol and large sums of cash in Egyptian pounds, US dollars and Israeli shekels. The prosecution is allegedly looking into this “incriminating” evidence.

Egypt’s Penal Code does not criminalize homosexuality, but the ambiguously defined term “debauchery” and prostitution are classified as crimes.

The possession of alcohol, sex toys, or wigs is not illegal, according to Egyptian law.

The arrests are the latest in a harsh security crackdown targeting Egypt’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

In April of this year, three gay men were sentenced to eight years imprisonment after allegedly being found cross-dressing and engaging in gay prostitution.

In November, eight men were sentenced to three years in prison for purportedly appearing in a video showing “Egypt’s first gay wedding.” This month, an appeals court reduced the prison sentence to one year.

Most recently, on December 1, the popular television reporter Mona Iraqi led police forces in raiding a bathhouse in downtown Cairo that she claimed was a “den for perversion, prostitution, human trafficking, and AIDS.” At least 26 men were arrested during the raid.

These 26 defendants are now on trial, even though no proof of sex acts, prostitution or the spread of AIDS has been confirmed in this incident.