An Egyptian court has convicted five men of engaging in gay sex on Monday.

Officials said the men who pleaded guilty were sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour and three years' probation. The men whose names have not been released were found guilty of debauchery and running a house for gay sex parties.

Last year in Cairo, 23 men were convicted and sentenced to up to five years in prison for immoral behaviour and contempt of religion.

In the internationally publicised "Cairo 52" case, 52 men were tried on charges of after police raided a Nile riverboat nightclub and accused them of taking part in a gay sex party. The rest were acquitted.

While homosexuality is not explicitly referred to in the Egyptian penal code, a wide range of laws covering obscenity, prostitution and debauchery are applied to gays in Egypt.