A Moroccan court has jailed six men for being gay and will exile them once they have spent several years in jail.
The defendants were convicted on Monday for homosexuality, inciting prostitution, mediating in prostitution and being drunk in public.
While the Arabian country is seen as comparatively liberal to its neighbors, Morocco is still a deeply conservative Muslim country where gay sex is illegal.
The Faqih Bensalah court, south of the capital Rabat, handed down sentences of one, two and three years to the six accused.
Once they have served their jail terms, the court ordered they must be expelled from the town and will never be allowed to return.
In April, a father of one of them accused the five others of encouraging his 19-year-old son to become gay. All six were arrested on 17 April.
Ahmed Amin Chaabi, from the Moroccan League for the Defence of Human Rights, told the AFP:
‘International conventions seek to protect the family… and what happened is against nature and against the morals and values of society.’
It comes as gay rights activists in Morocco have called for homosexuality to be decriminalized.
For International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), the group Aswat (‘Voice’ in Arabic), campaigners have called for tolerance.
