Eight Men Jailed For Appearing in Egyptian 'Gay Wedding' Video

Eight men have been jailed for appearing in an alleged same-sex wedding video in Egypt.

The men were each sentenced to three years in prison for the crime of "inciting debauchery", after being filmed in the wedding video on a boat on the Nile.

The clip, posted online as @Egypt's first gay wedding@, shows two men exchanging rings and embracing while friends cheer.

In September, a statement from the office of Egypt's chief prosecutor denounced the video as "shameful to God" and "offensive to public morals".

Egypt does not have a specific law making homosexuality illegal. But the men who appeared in the video were arrested last month and "tested" for homosexuality. It's not clear what the homosexuality test involved, although it is thought to be an invasive anal examination.

Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat said the video violated public decency. But the charity Human Rights Watch have said that anal examinations violate international standards against torture.

The verdict is the latest in a crackdown against gay people by Egyptian authorities.

Earlier this year, an Egyptian court convicted four men of committing homosexual acts and sentenced them to up to eight years in prison.

Police arrested the men for holding parties allegedly involved homosexual acts, although the men were actually found wearing women's clothes and make-up.

Three of the four men received eight years, while one received three years with hard labour.

In 2011 a high profile trial of 52 men accused of being gay caught international attention and drew criticism from rights groups. Twenty-three of them were sentenced to up to five years in prison, while the rest were acquitted.