Tunisia jails Swedish man on gay charges for two years

A Swedish man has been jailed in Tunisia after being found guilty of engaging in “homosexual acts”.

According to AFP, the unnamed man, presumed to be a tourist, is in his fifties and received a two year prison sentence last week.

The country ignored protests by the Swedish government opposing his prosecution.

“(Sweden) highlighted its belief in equal rights regardless of sexual orientation as a fundamental principle of democracy,” Victoria Bell, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry, told the news agency.

The man has appealed the sentence.

Article 230 of Tunisia’s Penal Code of 1913 allows for imprisonment of up to three years for sex between consenting adults of the same sex.

In 2013, a Belgian tourist was sentenced to three years in prison in Tunisia for apparently attempting to seduce another man in a police sting operation. He was released after three months.

In October last year, a retired British tourist, Ray Cole, and a local man were jailed on gay charges in Morocco. They were sentenced to four months in a Marrakesh prison. Following international outrage, Cole was released and sent back to the UK. It is believed that the Moroccan man was also freed.