LGBT rights in Cyprus not recognised or mentioned in the law. With independence from Britain in 1960, Cyprus retained British colonial law on the island almost in its entirety, with the relevant parts of the "Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885" becoming articles 171 to 174 of Chapter 154 of the Cypriot Criminal Code. The articles were first challenged in 1993, when Alexandros Modinos, a Cypriot architect and gay rights activist won a legal court case against the Government of Cyprus, known as "Modinos v. Cyprus", at the European Court of Human Rights. The Court ruled that Section 171 of the Criminal Code of Cyprus
Islands of Africa and the Plazas de soberania islands in the Mediterranean Sea off the northern coast of Morocco, have long been in Spanish possession since the Reconquista, although Morocco continues to challenge Spain's authority over some of the islands. Following the independence of Comoros from France, the island of Mayotte voted in 1975 to remain a French territory, and in 2011 attained the status of a French department, along with Réunion which has held that status since the 1950s. Comoros continues to challenge France's possession of Mayotte, and Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles also variously dispute France's possession of its Îles Éparses,