© Hussein Malla / Associated PressHamed Sinno, left, lead singer with the Lebanese rock band Mashrou' Leila, and guitarist Firas Abou Fakher in Beirut in April 2016.
For Mostafa, a gay Egyptian man in his mid-20s, seeing rainbow flags flying at an open-air rock concert in the Arab world's most populous nation was thrilling. But he had a feeling it wouldn't end well.
Dozens of people have been arrested and put on trial in Egypt in the ensuing crackdown. Some were also beaten and subjected to invasive physical exams, spreading panic in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender circles.
Many of Mostafa's friends are deleting their profiles on cellphone dating apps and scrubbing their social media accounts, which police have long used to ensnare people suspected of being gay or transgender. Some who were at last month's concert have gone into hiding. There has even been talk of fleeing the country.
"The problem is that no one can tell the limit of this crackdown and how far it might go," said Mostafa, a community activist who asked to be identified by one name, for fear that he too might be swept up by police. "There was an incredible amount of hate speech by the media and by people on social media. Everyone I know is depressed and fearful."
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