Up to 33 men suspected of homosexuality have been arrested and dragged naked from a bath house in downtown Cairo, following a raid by Egyptian authorities.

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There were conflicting reports about the number of arrests, with AFP citing 33, but Reuters and the Associated Press putting the number at 26 and 25 respectively.

If convicted the men could be sent to jail.

Homosexuality is a social taboo in Egypt, a conservative, Muslim majority country with a sizable Christian minority – and the raid comes as part of an on-going crackdown on gay men.

While Egyptian law does not explicitly prohibit consensual same-sex relations, it prosecutes and imprisons gay men on charges such as “debauchery” and “shameless public acts”.

Read more at independent.ie

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