U.N. criticizes Egypt's treatment of gays

A United Nations panel said Friday that Egypt is breaching an international human rights treaty with its treatment of gay people as well as its treatment of suspected terrorists and its failure to clamp down on anti-Jewish newspaper articles.

The 18-member panel made its comments after considering a report by Egyptian authorities on compliance with the treaty. The report was submitted seven years late.

The U.N. committee criticized Egypt's "penalization of...'debauchery' "--alluding to the trial last year of 52 men arrested in Cairo for taking part in a gay sex party held on a Nile River floating restaurant. The judge acquitted 29 of the men and found 23 guilty. Sentences ranged from one to five years. In May, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ordered a retrial for all but the two main defendants.