An Egyptian court has acquitted 26 men accused of "debauchery" after their night-time arrest from a Cairo bathhouse for suspected homosexual activity.
"Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), Long live justice," chanted the defendants when the verdict was announced on Monday.
"Long live justice and the police," cheered the jubilant families of the defendants, some of who had clashed with reporters and photographers before the hearing began.
Prosecutors later filed an appeal against the verdict.
The men were arrested in a December 7 raid on a hammam in the Azbakeya district of the capital, amid fears of a widening police crackdown on gays in Egypt.
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The raid was filmed by a female television journalist, who days later aired the footage on the The Hidden, a weekly program on pro-regime private satellite channel Al-Qahira Wel Nas.
The footage showed the near naked men, covering their faces and wearing only towels, dragged out of the hammam and loaded onto police trucks.
The defendants, including the bathhouse owner and four employees, were brought handcuffed to the court room and made to stand in a metal cage guarded by two rifle-wielding policemen.
"The ruling proved our innocence and cleared the name of the hammam. I swear we did nothing wrong," said Fathy Abdel Rahman, the owner.
"Finally, an Egyptian court issued a verdict in a case of this kind according to the law," Ahmed Hossam, a defence lawyer, told AFP.
Egyptian law does not expressly ban homosexuality, but gay men have previously been arrested and charged with debauchery instead.
In the past, homosexuals in Egypt have been jailed on charges ranging from "scorning religion" to "sexual practices contrary to Islam".
