This is ridiculous.An Egyptian couple accused of engaging in sex sessions with other couples have been jailed by a Cairo court.
The man, a 48-year-old civil servant, was given seven years, his 37-year-old schoolteacher wife got three years.
The judge described the case as one of the worst crimes committed. But the couple's lawyer said the sentence was "very harsh" and they would appeal.
Extra-marital sex is illegal in Egypt, where the constitution says Islamic law is the main source of legislation.
The pair were arrested in October 2008 on prostitution charges after they posted adverts on the internet for couples interested in sex parties.
A long-standing law in Egypt allows people to be prosecuted for prostitution for having extra-marital sex even if no money changes hands.
'A little fun'
According to the court, the couple used the aliases Magdy and Samira to organise wife-swapping parties and orgies and admitted having sex with three other couples.
Even people accused of apostasy have not received such harsh sentences
Ayman al-Saadi, couple's lawyer
However their lawyer said after the judgement that they had only confessed to "having a little fun on the internet, not to having sexual relations outside their marriage."
Ayman al-Saadi told AFP news agency the sentence passed on Saturday by a court in the suburb of Agouza was "very harsh".
"Even people accused of apostasy have not received such harsh sentences," he said.
According to Egyptian press reports at the time of their arrest, the pair interviewed some 44 couples, usually at coffee shops in central Cairo, before swapping partners.
They were said to have turned down more than 40 couples because they were not officially married, causing concern that they would not guarantee confidentiality.
Look, I don't approve of wife swapping or "swinging." I'm sure a good number of you are snickering or sneering at that statement but as far as I'm concerned if you make an oath and marriage counts you fulfill it. If you can't. Don't Make That Promise. That's right, find some other way besides marriage if you can't or don't want to hold to that, that's what I'm suggesting. That's an opinion though and there are plenty who disagree, it's not good enough to be the basis of a law.
But this? First off, a government has no damn business enforcing a religious oath. Which in this context is exactly what marriage is (in other contexts it's not okay, calm down) Egypt in this case if full of religious minorities like Copt Christians who number over 8 fucking million despite constant persecution (fun fact second biggest group of Copts is in the USA), so you enforce Islamic law, even on those who don't believe in it? This is one of the big things in the US as we've discussed, it doesn't make sense for the US government to enforce Christian rules when almost a third of the population isn't Christian, just to start with!
Second off, no matter how much you disagree with a choice, no matter how much it offends you there are things no mortal being has a right to punish or degrade another. Because they had the right to make that choice. Everyone involved in this made a free choice, no was being hurt or abused, there was simply no reason for the government to get involved.