Ten men have been arrested for allegedly conducting a same-sex marriage ceremony on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.
The arrests were made on Saturday night at a beach resort, a senior police officer told the BBC.
In recent years there have been a number of measures that appear to have targeted homosexuals in Tanzania.
But this week the Tanzanian government distanced itself from anti-gay rhetoric from a prominent politician.
No charges have yet been brought against the men, all Tanzanian, who are being held at a police station.
Six other men escaped after police, who are believed to have received a tip-off from members of the public, raided the party, according to rights group Amnesty International
Amnesty’s East Africa Deputy Director Seif Magango said that it was “mind-boggling that the mere act of sitting in a pair can assume criminal proportions”.
He added that he feared the men may be subjected to forced anal examination and called for their immediate release.