Here are the countries with the most LGBTI people in jail

It’s believed that there are hundreds if not thousands of people in jail around the world because of their sexuality or gender identity.

The site Erasing76Crimes.com has updated its list of LGBTI people who are awaiting trial or already in prison in the around 75 countries where homosexuality is illegal.

The blog has attempted to keep track of individuals affected by anti-LGBT laws but has had to abandon this due to the sheer volume of cases.

“Finding out about specific cases remains difficult, especially in countries without a free press,” it added.

The countries with the most LGBTI people in jail or facing trial, according to Erasing76Crimes.com, are:

Egypt: Dubbed “one of the world’s biggest jailers of gay men”. Local activists estimate that as many as 500 LGBTI people have been sent to prison.

Saudi Arabia: In one recent year, religious police reportedly arrested and convicted a total of 260 people.

Morocco: Dozens of trials for same-sex intimacy are cited by LGBTI rights advocates each year, but are rarely reported in the media.

Nigeria: Dozens of arrests have been reported, but Nigerian media rarely follow up with reports about any subsequent trials.

And possibly:

India: almost 1,500 people were arrested in 2015 under India’s colonial-era anti-gay law, but it was unclear how many of those arrests were actually for sexual assault rather than for consensual same-sex relations.

Based on a May 2016 report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), the maximum penalty for the criminalisation of homosexuality can vary from 15 years to a life sentence in jail in 14 countries. Africa continues to have the most states that criminalise homosexuality (34).

There are currently 13 UN member states (or parts thereof) where the death penalty might be applied for same-sex sexual acts, although eight regions are believed to actually implement this.