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Eight men involved in Egypt gay wedding video given jail time

By Josh Haggis

egypt

Eight men in Egypt have been sentenced to three years in prison for taking part in a gay wedding.

The men were arrested in September when a video apparently showing them celebrating a gay wedding on a boat cruising down the River Nile was discovered by Egyptian authorities after being posted on YouTube and going viral on social media.

The group of men later underwent a voluntary medical examination by Egyptian authorities that failed to find supposed signs of homosexuality. Read more here.

Today (November 1) the Qasr al-Nil Misdemeanour Court sentenced the eight men to three years in prison on charges of “inciting debauchery” and “offending public morality”, the BBC reports.

Homosexuality is legal in Egypt, but the country’s 1961 Anti-Prostitution Law states that people found guilty of “inciting debauchery and immorality” can be sentenced to anything between three and five years in prison.