EGYPT: 4 MEN JAILED FOR HOMOSEXUALITY

Four men have been sent to prison after being found guilty on charges of homosexuality in Egypt.

According to AFP, the men had been accused of dressing in women’s clothes and of holding “deviant” parties.

Three of the men were sentenced to eight years in jail and a fourth to three years in prison.

In October and November last year, there was a spate of arrests of around 24 people related to homosexuality in Egypt.

It is unclear if Monday’s sentencing of the four men is related to these arrests.

Men suspected of homosexuality are routinely forced to undergo forensic anal exams, a practice described by human rights groups as torture and as being medically inconclusive.

While homosexuality is not specifically outlawed in Egypt, gay people can be targeted through immorality laws.

Egypt has repeatedly rejected efforts by the United Nations to support the right to equality of LGBTI people.

In June 2012, an Egyptian delegation told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva that sexual orientation “it is not part of the universally recognised human rights.”