Ray Cole: British man, 70, jailed in Morocco for being gay

A British man has been jailed in Morocco for four months for being gay, his family says. Ray Cole, who is 70, is sleeping on a concrete floor with 60 convicts including murderers and rapists, according to The Guardian.

Cole's son Adrian said the conditions in the jail were "pretty bleak". He said: "[Prisoners] are served boiled vegetables once a day and his cell is a dorm designed to sleep 44, however since there are 60 men in there my 70-year-old father sleeps on the concrete floor."

With heavy sarcasm, Adrian Cole added: "But that's quite reasonable, after all he is a gay and had the temerity to visit Morocco as a tourist for a holiday."

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Ray Cole, who is said to have come out as gay several years ago, lives in Kent – and Dover MP Charlie Elphicke is working for his release. He branded Cole's treatment "medieval".

Elphicke said: "I am deeply concerned about his safety and it is clear that if you visit Morocco you are at serious risk of facing trumped up charges for medieval crimes. The message is clear – Morocco is not safe for British tourists."

Pink News, which gives Cole's age as 69, claims he was on holiday in Marrakesh, visiting a Moroccan man, Jamal Jam Wald Nass. It says the two were seen together and were arrested.

They were both sentenced to four months in prison, the paper says, after an image found on Cole's phone of the two men together was used as evidence of "unnatural acts".

Gay sex is illegal in Morocco, for both men and women. However, there is some tolerance of same-sex activity in practice, particularly in holiday resorts such as Marrakesh.

Adrian Cole told Pink News: "They're a tourist-driven economy. They rely on tourists like my father. They then decide to judge you and your life and may or may not treat you in this fashion.

"I'm gay and no one gave me any guarantees that I could go out and see my father. People don't know how dangerous this place is."