Egypt court gives men 3-8 years for homosexuality

CAIRO - A judicial official says an Egyptian court has convicted four men of committing homosexual acts and sentenced them to up to eight years in prison.

The Nasr City misdemeanor court issued its ruling on Monday. Police arrested the men for holding parties they say involved homosexual acts and where they found women's clothes and makeup.

Three of the four received eight years while one received three years with hard labor.

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. Egyptian law does not explicitly refer to homosexuality, and prosecutors usually level charges that include terms such as "debauchery."