Guest MonkeySee Posted January 8, 2009 Posted January 8, 2009 Nine gay men in Senegal have been sent to jail for "indecent conduct and unnatural acts". Homosexual acts are illegal in Senegal but lawyers for the men said the sentence was the harshest ever handed down to gay men in the country. The judge added three years to the maximum five-year sentence after ruling that the men were also members of a criminal organisation. Most of them belonged to an association set up to fight HIV and Aids. "This is the first time that the Senegalese legal system has handed down such a harsh sentence against gays," said Issa Diop, one of the men's four defence lawyers. The extremity of this sentence [and] the rapidness of the trial all really shocks us in a country which has been moving so positively towards rule of law IGLHRC's Cary Alan Johnson Mr Diop said he would be appealing against the sentences. The International and Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) says it is "deeply disturbed" by the case. "We're actually shocked by the ruling of the court," IGLHRC's Cary Alan Johnson told the BBC's Network Africa programme from Cape Town in South Africa. "There have been pretty consistent human rights violations… in Senegal," he said. "But the extremity of this sentence [and] the rapidness of the trial all really shocks us in a country which has been moving so positively towards rule of law and a progressive human rights regime." The head of a gay rights organisation in Senegal told AFP news agency that the situation for gay people in the country was getting worse. "Many gays are already fleeing to neighbouring countries because of our living conditions," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Senegal is a predominantly Muslim country and gay men and women remain socially marginalised. In February 2008, a magazine editor received death threats after publishing pictures claiming to depict a wedding ceremony between two men. Several men were also arrested in connection with the publication but later released. Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 8, 2009 Posted January 8, 2009 How terrible! To think I might have to go through life without ever having visited Senegal is almost more than I can bear . . . Quote
Guest MonkeySee Posted January 9, 2009 Posted January 9, 2009 How terrible! To think I might have to go through life without ever having visited Senegal is almost more than I can bear . . . There are probably many places that you won't experience in your life...oh well, you have Pattaya. Quote
