MANAMA, Bahrain — A court in eastern Saudi Arabia has sentenced a gay man to three years in prison for engaging in “immoral acts” after authorities found “offensive” pictures on his phone and social media posts where he sought to meet other men for sex.
Gulf News reports that the man, in his 30’s, was also fined SR 100,000 (approximately $26,000 USD) by the court in the port city Dammam in the Eastern Province.
According to a report in local news site Sabq, the man was apprehended by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice after he posted pictures of himself naked on social media and offered to have sex for free with other men. “Offensive” pictures and chats with other people were found on his confiscated mobile.
Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and is often punished with imprisonment, fines, corporal punishment, capital punishment, whipping/flogging, and chemical castrations. The severity of punishment depends mostly on religious Sunni judges and scholars, as well as royal decrees.
In July, a Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 24-year-old man to three years in jail and 450 lashes for trying to arrange a date with another man via Twitter.
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