GAY MEN RECEIVE FIRST PUBLIC LASHINGS

Two men in Saudi Arabia, found “guilty” of being gay, have received the first round of the 7000 lashings they have been sentenced to.

The unidentified men were given the first part of their punishment in a public square in the city of Al-Bahah on Tuesday, according to the Al-Okaz newspaper. It is not known how many strokes they received.

The men were retuned to prison, where they will stay until receiving their full sentence, which will be meted out on a daily basis in a series of “portions.”

It is not know how long this will take or how many rounds of whippings they will be subjected to.

Under Islamic Shari’a law, homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and can even be punished by beheading.

The country was named in a 2006 Human Rights report by the U.S. State Department as one of the world’s worst abusers of LGBT people.