Seven arrested, two more hunted over Egyptian 'gay wedding' video

Egyptian authorities have arrested seven people and are hunting two more after a YouTube video purportedly showing the country's first gay wedding swept the internet last month.

The video, which was shot in April and uploaded to YouTube, shows two men exchanging rings while others celebrate around them.

The footage was widely viewed last month spurring police to action, prosecutors said in a statement.

Gay marriage is not legal in Egypt and while there are no legislative prohibitions of homosexuality itself, harassment of homosexuals is rife.

The arrested men could be charged with debauchery or spreading images that violate public decency, according to the BBC.

Egyptian authorities have ordered "medical tests" to determine the sexual orientation of the arrested men.

Human Rights Watch has previously noted that those arrested and accused of homosexuality or debauchery are routinely tortured, and a 2004 report identified a crackdown on homosexual men from authorities.

Meanwhile, one of the men allegedly present has conducted an anonymous television interview [Arabic] in which he's said to claim that the "wedding" was a joke.

There were four men sentenced under Egypt's debauchery laws in April this year, and more than fifty faced similar charges after a party was raided in 2001.