An appeals court reduced the sentences of four Egyptian men on Wednesday from three years to one following their conviction on charges stemming from a suspected gay sex party.
The case has been condemned by Egyptian and international human rights groups as persecution of homosexuals.
The four were among 52 men arrested in a May 2001 police raid on a Nile boat restaurant on suspicion they had taken part in a gay sex party.
Of that number, 29 were acquitted and 16 appealed. They were released pending the hearing.
Another two men had been sentenced to five and three years respectively on charges of contempt of religion and misinterpreting the Islamic holy book, the Qur’an.
Court officials said 12 of the men, who had also been initially sentenced to three years imprisonment, lost their appeals on Wednesday because they did not attend the hearing.
Another five did not appear at the hearing and will be retried if arrested.
Human rights groups and the international community have denounced the trials and condemned Egypt, where homosexuality is met with zero tolerance. It is not explicitly referred to in the Egyptian legal system, but a wide range of laws covering obscenity, prostitution and public morality are punishable by jail terms. ‒ Sapa-AP