- An Egyptian couple was today arrested by national police for allegedly swapping sex partners with other couples.
The couple, a civil servant and his teacher wife is said to have held at least three "swinger" parties at its home in capital Cairo, after soliciting other married couples over internet.
Extra-marital sex is illegal in Egypt, where constitution says Islamic law is main source of legislation.
Police say they are looking for others who participated in the sex acts. The arrested couple posted advertisements and used chat rooms on a popular Arabic pornographic Web site to arrange for interviews with couples before they swapped partners, said one official.
Couple, who media reports say have children and used aliases Magdy and Samira, face up to three years in prison if convicted of facilitating prostitution.
Reports further show that police also arrested a lawyer at a cafe in Cairo suburb Giza while he was finalising a swap deal, adding that another swap was set for weekend with a young man from Gulf and his wife.
Many of ads on website used by couple are said to contain personal email addresses and phone numbers.
A human rights group, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, criticised police for snooping on couples.
"Case raises serious concerns about due process and privacy rights of those arrested, especially in light of press reports about police interception of defendants' electronic correspondence," spokesman Hossam Bahgat told media.
"We're also of course worried that police seem to be still going after many people based on intercepted emails of two main defendants," Mr Bahgat.
One Egyptian man whose number was listed on site condemned arrests in a telephone interview with media.
"They cannot arrest people who are doing these things at will. Nobody is forcing them," the man was quoted to have said.
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