Early Egyptian army codes contained no provision for punishing sodomy

Evidence

In 1824 Mehmed Bey, the colonel of one of the first six regiments of Mehmed Ali’s new army, wrote to the Pasha telling him he had a problem with those who committed sodomy: should he treat them as adulterers (and thus apply the punishment for adultery on them) or should he apply a different law? Mehmed Ali responded by saying that the colonel had to consult the military regulations and apply what they said. The problem was that by that time the military regulations and laws that had been translated and published in the Būlāq Press made no mention of sodomy or how to deal with it. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 730

Categorization

• SHARE: A legal-history curiosity: a colonel in 1824 had to ask the Pasha whether to treat sodomy as adultery because the newly translated military code was silent on it.
• CANDY: Mehmed Ali’s 1824 military code had no word on sodomy, so a colonel had to ask the Pasha which law applied.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 730
• XREF: connects to: The 1824 Egyptian army had no law covering sodomy, forcing legal improvisation

Broader Connections

• The 1824 Egyptian army had no law covering sodomy, forcing legal improvisation #corroborates (0.90)