British gold miner Michael McFeat faces jail for calling Kyrgyzstan sausage a 'horse's penis'

Michael McFeat, a British gold miner working in Kyrgyzstan, faces five years in prison after comparing a local delicacy to a horse penis. Police arrested McFeat – who works for Canadian company Centerra Gold – after he wrote on Facebook that a traditional dish of Kyrgyzstan was like horse's phallus.

The post described chuchuk – a sausage made from horse meat and intestines – as "special delicacy, the horse's penis". The comment is alleged to have breached hate crimes, which carry a sentence of between 3-5 years. Workers for Centerra went on strike after hearing of the "offensive" comment, but have since returned to work.

McFeat removed the update and apologised, saying that he had not meant to cause offence. "I would like to take the opportunity to sincerely appologise [sic] for the comment I made on here about the kygyz people and horses penis," he wrote. "I truly never meant to offened anyone and im truly sorry as it was never my intension [sic]."