Nairobi – Eight men appealed at the Egypt court on Saturday, and their sentences were reduced. They were sentenced after a gay wedding video went viral on the internet.
Their sentences were reduced from 3 years to a year.
These men were arrested in September, their arrest was publicized to warn homosexual people in the country.
They were convicted by the country’s lower court for broadcasting images that were believed to have “violated public decency”.
The men were arrested after a video that was filmed abroad a Nile River, showed what the prosecutor believed to be a wedding ceremony of gays.
This video showed two men kissing, exchanging rings and cutting the wedding cake with their picture on it.
This video was later shared and went viral on social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.
According to an AFP reporter after the defendants’ families heard that the men’s sentences will be reduced screamed and wept.
The defense constantly denied that these men were actually gay and insisted that the charges should be dropped.
Egypt has not really banned homosexuality but these men were accused of wrongdoing. After invasive anal tests were done, those charged were dropped because they showed that these men did not have receptive anal sex.
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