Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) face legal challenges not experienced by other residents. Homosexuality is illegal in the UAE. Under UAE law, consensual same-sex sexual activity is punishable by imprisonment. , there are no known arrests or prosecutions for same-sex sexual activity in the UAE since at least 2015. Individuals have been prosecuted for related offences, under public decency laws, for acts such as kissing in public, or for cross-dressing. Additionally, non-marital or extramarital sexual activity, including heterosexual acts, may be subject to criminal prosecution as adultery or fornication (since 2022, only at the behest of a spouse or guardian). Such provisions could potentially be applied to same-sex relations. Legality of same-sex sexual activity The UAE's Federal Penal Code does not replace the legal system of each emirate, unless it is contrary to the federal law. Persons may be charged under the Federal Penal Code, or under a local (emirate) penal code. While adherence of the country's legal and justice system to sharia allows for capital punishment for same-sex sexual activity under provisions— as with other sex acts by married persons outside marriage —there are no known instances of imposition of the death penalty, or sentences to life in prison, according to Amnesty international, the , and the U.S. Department of State, whose 2021 report states: According to the British non-profit, Human Dignity Trust, , all annual human rights reports from the U.S. Department of State on UAE after 2015, have stated there are no records of arrests or prosecutions for same-sex sexual activity in the country. The law against "voluntary debasement", variously rendered in English as 'indecent assault', 'indecency', or 'carnal knowledge' is used against consensual same-sex (and other consensual non- or extramarital) activities. This provision, Article 356, imposes penalties of terms of imprisonment of at least one year and up to fifteen years. Articles 358–359 "Flagrant indecent acts" cover sexual harassment and public indecency, such as displays of physical intimacy. Penalties range from fines to prison sentences of at least two years. Prison sentences, fines, and deportations of foreign nationals, have been consequences of such suspected or established same-sex sexual conduct. Involuntary medical and psychological "treatments", including administration of hormonal therapies, and detention for forced psychological treatments, have occurred. There have been reports of mistreatment in detention such as beatings, and forced rectal examinations, amounting to torture. Another article of