I am Edgar, and I'm managing this GoFundMe on behalf of Asem, who is a long time friend of mine about 12+ years, since GoFundMe is unavailable in Egypt.
This is what Asem has to say:
Hi. I'm Asem Hegab from Egypt, and I'm opening this page for my younger brother.
On the 24th of January, while looking for a way to go back home from the conscription office, my younger brother got roped in with a man who changed his life for the worse. This man promised to lead my brother to the nearest metro station from the conscription office, and instead of doing that, he lured him into a dark and secluded area, viciously beat my brother within an inch of his life, tackled him to the ground, raped him, and stole his money and ID card, all in the middle of the night with no roads and no people nearby. My brother resisted him as much as he could, until he was short of breath and bruised and aching everywhere, before being threatened with a big rock that could've killed him, in which case he felt like he had no choice but to stop resisting. My brother could have died that day, and it haunts me to think that we likely wouldn't have been able to find him if that happened.
Wanting to get justice for what happened to him, and to try to prevent this criminal from violating anyone else, we've gone to three separate police stations to try to legally report the man for what he did. Each one either said that the crime wasn't in their jurisdiction, or that they didn't believe my brother's story, but we kept trying until one of them finally agreed to file a report for him. On the 28th, he went to the prosecution to give his statement about the crime, and everything was alright at first. The police managed to catch the criminal quickly, but needed to prove that the rape occurred by going through a forensics examination, so they told my brother to go back to the prosecution on the 31st of January to perform the examination. On the day of the examination, my brother unassumingly went to get examined, and found himself suddenly being arrested for "debauchery", because the criminal denied raping my brother, and instead claimed that everything that happened was consensual. Since consensual homosexual activity is illegal in our country, after the criminal's claims, my brother has gone from being the victim of a violent attack, to a perpetrator of a crime he didn't even commit.
He's been in jail since January 31st now, despite being the victim of this crime, because the criminal had access to an incompetent prosecution and systematic homophobia. He was already dealing with the trauma of getting raped and almost getting killed, and now he's dealing with even more trauma from being jailed. Between police officers who hurl hurtful slurs and profanities at him, the illnesses that he's contracted in his time in jail, and inmates who keep doubting his story and making him feel at fault for the crime that happened to him, he's not doing good mentally. He's even expressed suicidal ideations because of what happened, and we're really worried for his well-being.
The medical report has already come out confirming that my brother had actually been assaulted, so his arrest is completely unlawful. We've been naive enough to think we could easily seek justice and get it, but as it turns out, rape victims are not defended in this society, and instead judged, doubted, humiliated, and dehumanized, especially if those victims can be used to justify society's bigotry towards people who are different from them.
Your donations will mostly go towards legal expenses- paying for a decent lawyer to prove my brother's innocence and get justice for him by jailing this criminal like he deserves, plus some other necessary legal fees. Some of them will go towards food, groceries, medicines, and clothes to keep my brother fed and warmed, with others being for transportation expenses for the food and visits. And, most importantly, donations will also go towards relief for him after he gets out; fees for doctors to treat his illnesses, and for a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist to help him overcome the trauma he went through. Every donation counts, no matter how small, and your help is greatly appreciated. Here's to hoping I can get him out and bring him back to his family where he belongs.