Arrested and tortured for being trans

Dear friends, Imagine being on your way home after a fun night out with friends. Suddenly the police stop your car and arrest you – for no other reason than they don't like the way you look. It happened recently to two trans girls here in Tunisia. After the arrest, the police forced one of them to testify against the other. They insulted, beat, and tortured one of them, Hèlà. Because she spoke out for her rights, the police initiated a prosecution against her. On January 19, a transphobic judge convicted Hèlà of "indecency" and sentenced her to four months in a horrible men’s jail exposing her to even more violence. My friends at Shams and I will soon be going back to court to appeal the decision. But it will take a huge, global outcry to convince authorities to set Hèlà free. No one should be jailed because of who they are. Click here to sign the petition asking Tunisia’s Prime Minister to free Hèlà. This is not the first time this has happened: the LGBT community in Tunisia is under attack. Every week people get arrested or beaten up, just for who they are or who they love. If we can help Hèlà, we will show that love can win in Tunisia. We will work hard to fight the sentence. But we need your help to win the case. We know there's hope because we've seen it work before in our region. Last year, over 100,000 All Out members helped free two teenage girls jailed in Morocco for a kiss. Luc – will you sign and ask the Prime Minister to free Hèlà? Thanks for going All Out, Mounir Baatour President of Shams - Pour la dépénalisation de l'homosexualité en Tunisie SOURCES (in French): ●︎ A trans woman sentenced to 4 months in prison, police accused of transphobia –Tuniscope, 20 January 2017 ● Hèlà, a transsexual woman, is sentenced to prison – Réalités, 19 January 2017 ● Tunisia: a trans person charged with public indecency and lewd conduct – HuffPost Tunisia, 02 November 2016

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