Four men jailed in Egypt for gay acts

An Egyptian court has sentenced four men to jail for indulging in homosexual acts, a media report said Tuesday.

The court accused the men Monday of dressing in women's clothes, wearing make-up and arranging or attending deviant sex parties, BBC reported.

A leading Egyptian human rights group said that the prison sentences the men received Monday were part of an ongoing crackdown on personal freedoms.

The verdict has been condemned by the US-based Human Rights First group, which said that it was "alarmed and disappointed" at the verdicts.

"Egypt is a bellwether state in the Arab region; what happens in Egypt sets a trend for developments throughout the Arab world," the group said.

After the ousting of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013, arrests of people based on their sexual orientation has increased.

In a mass trial in 2001, 52 men were accused of indulging in homosexual activities under the Egyptian law, out of whom 23 were sentenced to up to five years in jail with hard labour.