Several top European politicians backed Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel on Thursday after he told Arab leaders he was gay and could be condemned to death in some of their countries, reportedly prompting an "icy silence" from some of those present at an EU-Arab League summit in Egypt.
Bettel told Arab attendees at the two-day summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that "he was married to a man" and would face capital punishment in many of their countries, according to a German journalist.
There was "an icy silence from some, a silent joy for others," according to the account.
Responding to the story, Bettel later tweeted: "Saying nothing was not an option for me."
Centre-right politician Bettel became the first European Union leader to enter into a same-sex union after he married his partner Gauthier Destenay, a Belgian architect, in 2015.
"Man of honour. Thank you, Xavier Bettel," tweeted German European Affairs Minister Michael Roth on Thursday.
"Great respect to @Xavier_Bettel for his courage to speak openly about gay rights at the EU-Arab Summit," tweeted Danish Finance Minister Kristian Jensen.
Several Middle Eastern countries still sentence people to the death penalty for homosexuality, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Some 40 EU and Arab leaders attended the summit, which ended on Monday and was the first official gathering between the EU and Arab League.
As it ended, host Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi highlighted common security and economic interests between the EU and Arab countries but also shrugged off European criticism of human rights in his country.
"You are not going to teach us about our humanity, our values and our morality," Sisi said during the closing news conference. "Respect our humanity and our morality as we respect yours."
Source: en.qantara.de, Agence France-Presse, March 1, 2019
Bettel Takes Arab Leaders to Task on Gay Rights at Summit
Xavier Bettel says his same-sex marriage would condemn him to death in some countries.
Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel, has confronted Arab leaders over the repression of gay rights, telling them his same-sex marriage would condemn him to death in some of their countries.
The conference room at a summit of EU and Arab states fell silent when Bettel made his statement, according to a German TV journalist.
Retweeting this account, Bettel wrote: “Saying nothing was not an option for me.” The tweet was signed with his initials.
Bettel, the first EU leader to be married to a same-sex partner, had planned to make the intervention before arriving at the summit, which was the first gathering between the EU and Arab League.
Homosexuality is punishable by death under sharia law in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. Other countries in the region prohibit same-sex acts, including Algeria, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, Syria, Kuwait and some of the United Arab Emirates.
Syria, which is currently suspended from the Arab League, was not represented at the summit.
Bettel’s point is underscored by the treatment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Egypt, the country that hosted the summit.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt, but LGBT people are frequently detained on euphemistic charges such as “debauchery”. After the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, came to power in a coup in 2013, he “appeared to embrace persecution of gays and trans people as a political strategy” according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
EU leaders said they raised human rights with their Arab counterparts. “I insisted that our summit declaration should include our common commitment … to the upholding of all aspects of internal human rights law,” Donald Tusk, the European council president, told journalists after the summit.
The EU had to acquiesce, however, to Arab demands to drop a reference to freedom of expression in the summit communique in favour of more general wording on upholding international human rights law.
The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, defended the bloc’s decision to hold the summit. “If I only talked to flawless democrats, then I would end my week already by Tuesday,” he said.
Standing alongside Tusk and Juncker at the final press conference, Sisi defended the death penalty and dismissed criticism of his human rights record. “We are two different cultures … Our priority is preserving our countries and stopping them from collapse, destruction and ruin, as you see in many surrounding states.”
These remarks were followed by enthusiastic applause from Arab officials and journalists.
Tusk, a former journalist who was jailed for his political activities in communist Poland, said: “I really appreciate how enthusiastic your media is. It’s impossible in Europe to have such a reaction. Congratulations.”
EU sources said the remarks were clearly sarcastic.
EU officials see the summit as a success, partly because of the guest list. Most EU presidents and prime ministers took part, while the most controversial Arab leaders stayed away, including the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of war crimes, and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman.
Source: delano.lu, Jennifer Rankin, March 1, 2019
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde