Three men, aged 18 to 24, were jailed for live streaming rape in Facebook group

21-year-old migrant is appealing his sentence despite broadcasting the attack

The prosecutor and defence lawyer are demanding tougher sentences

An Afghan migrant jailed for just two years for gang-raping a woman in Sweden is appealing his conviction and insists he is innocent despite broadcasting the attack on Facebook Live.

However, prosecutors are demanding tougher sentences for the three men sentenced for participating in the gang rape that was live streamed in a closed Facebook group.

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The men, aged between 18 and 24, were sentenced to prison in Sweden last month after the rape was broadcast in a group with over 60,000 members.

An 18-year-old man from Afghanistan was sentenced to one year in jail on account of rape, while the other man from Afghanistan was sentenced to 27 months.

The third man, a 24-year-old Swedish citizen who was filming the incident, was sentenced to six months in prison for gross defamation as well as for failing to report rape.

The three men, aged 18 to 24, were arrested in January in Uppsala, north of Stockholm, after police received tips about the rape streaming in a closed Facebook group of 60,000 members.

Prosecutor Pontus Melander now wants the 24-year-old to be convicted of complicity in rape however and a tougher sentence to be handed out as a result.

Melander has also appealed the sentences given to the other two men, which he considers to be too low.

The 21-year-old's lawyer, meanwhile, has appealed his conviction and instead wants his client who denied the crime to be acquitted entirely.

The men were arrested in January in Uppsala, north of Stockholm, after police received tips about the rape streaming in the group of 60,000 members and interrupted the broadcast.

The 18-year-old man from Afghanistan was to one year in jail on account of rape, while the other Afghanistan man was sentenced to 27 months. The third man, a 24-year-old Swedish citizen who was filming the incident, was sentenced to six months in prison

The men also were sentenced to pay total damages of 300,000 kronor ($33,890) to the victim.

Judge Nils Palbrandt said the victim, a woman in her 30s, was under influence of narcotics and alcohol was not able to give her consent to the sexual act, as was claimed by the men.

The men had denied the charges, saying the woman had given consent to having sex with them. However, the court said the woman had been heavily intoxicated by alcohol and drugs and was in a very vulnerable situation.

The men, who are not identified under Swedish law, were influenced by alcohol during the act.

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'Even if she, in the way the defendants claim, had agreed to intercourse, it is not possible for a person in such a vulnerable situation to consent,' Palbrandt said.

'They shall therefore be held liable for rape,'

The court said the film had received a lot of attention both in Sweden and internationally.

Swedish media have published excerpts of the footage, showing at least one of the suspects holding a revolver.

During the four-day trial, the video was aired behind closed doors, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Eight people who saw the livestream were as witnesses in the case.

The three men were arrested in Uppsala (pictured above) in Sweden after the incident in January

The rape lasted for several minutes, while the 24-year-old was urged by several Facebook watchers to stop it but did not, prosecutors said.

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In an email to AFP earlier this year, a press spokesman for Facebook in the Nordic countries denounced 'a hideous crime'.

He said: 'Our teams work around the clock to review content that is being reported by users' and Facebook cooperates systematically with police in criminal investigations.'

The broadcast is the latest graphic video to bring into focus the complex ethical and policy issues faced by Facebook Live and others.

Facebook Live allows anyone to broadcast a video directly from their smartphone. But while traditional TV broadcasters are subject to regulations, Internet streaming services do not face the same restrictions and enforce their own terms of service.