By Sarah Omoyemwen Ajokpauwu, FoPA (Freedom of Peaceful Assembly) Learning and Communications Intern.
In Egypt, a man can be arrested not for who he loves, but for the length of his hair.
This is not a metaphor. Egyptian society enforces rigid expectations of masculinity. Hair, clothing, voice, posture, all of it is policed. When a man fails this test, strangers confront him on the street and the police take notice. M.H, a Queer Anthropologist & Activist and aProtest Lab participant, put it plainly: the issue is not sexual orientation, but gender presentation. The law follows the same logic. Egypt does not criminalise same-sex relations directly. Instead, authorities rely on the 1961 prostitution law, which allow charges of "habitual debauchery," and the 2018 cybercrime law, which penalises violations of undefined "Egyptian family values." No one defines those values; that vagueness is intentional. It gives prosecutors room to act on almost anything.
Police entrap gay men through dating applications. They pressure detainees to inform on others. Public presence becomes legal evidence, and participating in a protest means a double layer of repression if arrested. In this environment, visibility does not signal safety. It signals exposure.
In Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), the pattern shifts, but the danger stays. Hasan, a Queer Activist and Gender Advisor who is also a Protest Lab participant, described a context shaped by family reputation. Here, social standing often drives violence more than written law. Physical attacks are rare unless someone is exposed, and exposure often begins within the family. Relatives may report, threaten, or attack their own kin to protect the family's reputation. Family honor becomes justification.
One case shook the community. A trans woman, Doski Azad, was killed by her brother after she transitioned socially. Her brother traveled from abroad back to Kurdistan to carry out the attackand framed the act as protection of family honor. That’s just one case. The Kurdistan Region has not passed a specific law against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. However, authorities use vague provisions. They cite laws on public morality and indecent content which was recently used as a basis for authorities to arrest social media influencers and protestors. Because online abuse often spills into homes, and digital harassment damages the family's reputation, families then respond with control or violence. Some people flee the country but even in exile, some remain at risk. Social norms also shape punishments as Hasan explained that local language links stigma to sexual roles.
Queer activists once tried to be more visible as part of their strategy. Between 2015 and 2018, some groups held open discussions on gender and sexuality. They met state actors and explained that gender exists on a spectrum, but when activists increased public visibility, backlash followed. Authorities closed one organisation to ‘set anexample ‘, violating the right to association. Many of its members now face court proceedings. Activists now keep their work low profile because public posting often leads to surveillance and restriction.often leads to surveillance and restriction.
When activists became visible, authorities responded with repression, closing organisations, surveilling members, and prosecuting leaders. This situation taught the advocates that visibility without protection could be punishment in challenging contexts. In Egypt, the state uses law to discipline gender expression and same sex relations. In Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), families and communities enforce social norms in honor. Both systems treat visibility as provocation.
Through Protest Lab, activists from Egypt, KRI, and across the region compare strategies and assess risk across contexts. By sharing what worked and what failed, they identify how visibility can become a site of repression rather than protection. They warn each other about emerging threats and adapt methods to local conditions before harm occurs.
The Protest Lab is the hub for innovation within the CIVICUS Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (FoPA) workstream, dedicated to developing preventative solutions to protest violations. Fostering collaboration, learning, innovation and experimentation, new protest strategies.
This shift does not reject visibility but recognises various factors including context and timing. It gives high regard to the safety and well-being of its partners. Visibility can affirm identity. But in contexts shaped by repression, honor-based violence, and vague laws, it can also expose people to arrest, assault, and exile. Liberation requires more than being seen. It requires protection, solidarity, and structural change.
