Egypt court backs deportation of 'gay' Libyan

Cairo: An Egyptian court on Tuesday backed a police decision to deport a Libyan man accused of being gay, saying the move safeguarded morality and religious values, a judicial official said.

Police had deported the man, a student in Cairo, after receiving complaints that he was gay.

He had appealed the deportation and Egypt's refusal to allow him back.

Homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt, but gays have still been prosecuted under debauchery laws.

A court in January acquitted 26 men accused of acts of debauchery in a public bathhouse after a television show said it was a gay meeting place.

That verdict came weeks after another court reduced jail terms for eight men from three years each to one year, after a video of them at an alleged gay wedding appeared on the Internet.