An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced three Egyptian men to eight years in prison and a fourth man to three years imprisonment for homosexual activities, Daily News Egypt reported.

The men were accused of holding "deviant parties" and dressing in women's clothes.

Egyptians accused of homosexuality are frequently forced to undergo medical tests supposedly to show whether they are "habitual" gays or not.

Last year the popular satirist Bassem Youssef, who has been imprisoned for mocking national leaders, told Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" that one of the charges leveled against him was "propagating and promoting homosexuality and obscenity."

The jailing of the four gays wasn't Monday's only illustration of the increasing repression that authorities are imposing on the country; an appeals court upheld the prison sentences of three prominent figures from the 2011 Tahrir Square upheaval who had been convicted of holding an illegal protest.



