Article 534 of the Penal code criminalizes "unnatural sexual intercourse" which is interpreted as being anal sex and regarded as a behavior inherent to homosexuality. This clause stipulates the following: "Any sexual intercourse against nature is punished with up to one year of imprisonment."

By examining this article, it is obvious that it may only apply on gay males because intercourse between two lesbians is practically impossible. In practice however, judges use this article to prosecute same-sex sexual acts, including lesbians, and this is documented in the Lebanese jurisprudence.

On the 9th of January 2004, the Mount Lebanon Inquisition judge Fawzi ADHAM has issued arrest warrants for 2 gay males accusing them of sexual perversion according to the article 534.

On the 23rd of August 2002, two lesbians were arrested for engaging in "unnatural sexual practices", under orders from Mount Lebanon's Public Prosecution Office, on the bases of the same article.

Subsequently, the practice shows that article 534 is used by the judges to criminalize any kind of sexual activity committed by 2 persons of the same sex, and not only sexual intercourse per se.

In fact, sentences are only supposed to be handed out to suspects caught in "flagrante delicto", performing "unnatural sexual intercourse", but sentencing is practically carried out according to the judge's discretion.

In at least 3 cases, the perceived homosexual orientation of suspects was enough to get them arrested and sometimes prosecuted, even in the absence of any sexual activity.

And despite the new Code of criminal procedure (enacted in 2001) by which prison terms up to a year are not implemented, lengthy pretrial detention and long delays in trials remain a general problem.