Court frees four men arrested for gay sex – Egypt
The appeal of their convictions for having gay sex on a Nile riverboat has led to freedom for four men in Egypt, whose sentences were reduced to time served by an appeals court on June 4. The men were sentenced in March to three years in prison after they were found guilty of “habitual debauchery.” They were among 21 men convicted and 52 initially charged.
The case, along with several other recent gay-sex trials in the predominantly Muslim nation, has received condemnation from some U.S. law-makers and several international human rights groups.
Court officials denied the appeals of 12 other men because they did not attend the hearing. Sources close to the case told Agence France-Presse that the defendants apparently stayed away out of fear. While homosexuality is not explicitly outlawed in Egypt, it is punished under several laws covering morality.
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