Egypt jails eight men for three years over ‘gay marriage’

An Egyptian court jailed eight men for three years on Saturday over a video prosecutors claimed was of a gay wedding, which went viral. Homosexuality is not specifically banned under Egyptian law, so the men were convicted of broadcasting images that “violated public decency.” The court also sentenced the eight to three years of probation once they have served their terms. The video, filmed aboard a Nile riverboat, shows what prosecutors said was a gay wedding ceremony, with two men in the centre kissing, exchanging rings and cutting a cake with their picture on it.

[The ruling] is the latest signal that the new government will prosecute anyone to try to bolster its support.

a Human Rights Watch statement

Their arrests were the latest in a string of highly publicised police raids on suspected gays in the country, prompting a U.S.-based social networking application used by gays to urge caution to users in Egypt. Known as Grindr, it warned that Egyptian police, who had said they planned to monitor social networking sites, could be using it to entrap gays. Rights groups have denounced the tests often performed in Egypt on men suspected of homosexuality.

Middle East egypt gay marriage