Gay Kenyan men trafficked as sex slaves

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Gay men from Kenya are being lured to Persian Gulf countries, where they are trafficked as sex slaves for wealthy men, a magazine in Kenya reports.

Identity, the magazine, says the men are lured by promises of high-paying jobs from college campuses -- particularly Kenyatta University -- and then transported to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to work as sex slaves, Bikyamasr.com reported.

Because of high unemployment in Kenya, the victims easily fall prey to the trap, the magazine says.

One Kenyan victim told the magazine he was promised a job in Qatar but suffered sexual abuse.

In some countries in the Mideast, Identify says, convicted homosexuals can face the death penalty.

It is illegal to be openly gay in the UAE but the gay community has grown in recent years.

Qatar has no laws against human trafficking, which makes crackdowns on the practice extremely difficult.

"Qatar is a transit and destination country for men and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and, to a much lesser extent, forced prostitution," the U.S. State Department said in a recent report.