Egypt

The judge in the trial of 26 men arrested in Egypt in a televised raid by police looking for gays at a Cairo public bathhouse says he’ll announce a verdict next week after only three hearings.

Defense lawyers for 26 men arrested in a televised raid by police looking for gays at an Egyptian bathhouse criticized the prosecution’s case when the trial resumed Sunday.

An Egyptian appeals court has upheld the conviction of eight men for “inciting debauchery” for appearing in an alleged same-sex wedding video, but reduced their sentences from three to one year in prison.

The handcuffed defendants, many of them crying, arrived in court with their heads bowed as police pushed them inside a metal cage.

Gays in Egypt are taking precautionary measures by avoiding public places where they used to gather and by staying away from Internet and dating applications, fearing police traps.

The official from the prosecutors’ office said the trial will begin Sunday, only two weeks after the men were arrested in a much publicized raid on a Cairo bathhouse.

At least 20 gay and transgender persons have been convicted of debauchery and other charges in Egypt in 2014.

Egyptian security forces have raided a bath house and arrested 25 men suspected of homosexuality, dragging them naked out of the building in downtown Cairo.

CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Saturday convicted eight men for “inciting debauchery” following their appearance in an alleged same-sex wedding party on a Nile boat, sentencing each of them to three years in prison. The Internet video shows two men exchanging rings and embracing among cheering friends. The eight were detained in September…

For gay men in the dozens of countries that criminalize their sex lives, social networking can be a blessing or a curse. High-tech dating apps and social media have enabled countless men to expand their circles of friends and lovers in settings that are hostile to any overt trace of homosexuality. Yet the same technology that they gratefully embrace can expose…