Eight men jailed for homosexuality in Mauritania

A Mauritanian court has jailed eight men for two years for "committing indecent acts" after a video showed them at a gay birthday party, their lawyer and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday.

The party at a restaurant in the capital Nouakchott on January 11 was initially described as the first "gay wedding" in the history of semi-desert country, which bans homosexual behaviour between Muslim adults.

Police later said the occasion was the birthday party "of a homosexual to which he invited only those like him".

Video footage of the party went viral on social media, in the local press and in that of neighbouring countries such as Senegal, which is mostly Muslim like Mauritania.

Ten people accused of attending the party were arrested 10 days later and charged with "committing indecent acts" and "inciting debauchery," HRW said.

The police appear to have arrested the men on the basis of their appearance and behaviour, describing them in the report they submitted to court as "imitating ...