'It's not a prison, it's a concentration camp': Briton freed from Morocco jail for being gay reveals horrors

A British man, who was jailed in Morocco for 'homosexual acts' described the experience as 'a total nightmare'.

16:46 08 October 2014

Ray Cole, the 69-year-old British man who was jailed in Morocco for 20 days for “homosexual acts” is now back home and described the experience as “total nightmare.” 

 

"I've seen things I never knew existed. It's not a prison, it's a concentration camp."

 

Speaking to reporters, he said he initially thought he was being transferred to another jail when prison staff talked to him. 

 

"But then they said they were sending me home," said Mr Cole, from Deal.

 

"And they offered me the choice of spending the night in Marrakesh or getting the next flight [home]."

 

"I can hardly move my arm now, from 20 nights sleeping on the floor - I just want to go home and sleep in a soft bed," he said.

 

Cole revealed that there were inmates as young as 10 and as old as 90 suffering in "horrendous" conditions.

 

Of his particular charge, he added: "They seemed to think that I was some kind of sex tourist, but I'm not and I wasn't - and I won't leave this, I can't."

 

The Foreign Office guidelines within Morocco state that homosexuality is a crime there. Cole was detained by authorities when 'homosexual images' were found on his phone.