OBVIOUSLY … Senegal's newspapers are too "preoccupied" covering a big wrestling match to worry about two 17-year-olds about to stand trial for, uh, being gay. Hey, that's better than Uganda's newspapers, which print gay witch hunt lists.

Under Article 319 of the Senegalese Penal Code, gay sex is illegal. The law is being used to target four men arrested on "crimes against nature." Two men were just sentenced to prison terms. A third stands trial later this month. A fourth's future is in limbo. And while some gay men escape such ridiculous charges, Senegal's history of persecuting LGBTs — whether state-sponsored discrimination or civilian-led lynchings — is deplorable. Aren't there international human rights laws about this sort of thing? Yes, there are, though we've yet to hear from the U.S. Department of State acknowledging such.

Well at least some countries see Burundi's persecution of gays worth their attention. Pink Paper: "Britain's international development minister Ivan Lewis has strongly condemned the recent decision by Burundi to criminalise gay sex. During a visit to the small country in Eastern Africa which shares a boarder with Rwanda, the minister repeatedly called for a change of policy at the highest official levels and to the media over the new law, which was passed by the Burundian President on 22 April. It makes consensual same-sex relations a crime for the first time in the country's history, punishable by up to two years in prison and up to an $80 (about £50) fine.
During a meeting with Burundi's president, Pierre Nkurunziza, Lewis warned him he was out of step with global opinion. Lewis said: 'In any society, it should be totally unacceptable to criminalise anyone because of their sexual orientation.'"

So far, the U.S. State Department has not updated its Travel Warning for Americans headed to Burundi — which currently warns about armed rebel groups — about the persecution of gays. The American Embassy in Burundi also has no information. (Senegal's Travel Warning, however, does include mention of the recent arrest of nine gay men.) We could find no word out of the State Department regarding the situation there.

From the country that brings you gay witch hunts and lynchings:

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In Uganda, anti-gay hatred is manifested by newspapers printing of the names and faces of "gay suspects" and activists "storming Parliament" with their message to rid the nation of gays. But across the continent in Senegal, things aren't any better for the gays. They're being hunted down Jim Crow-style, with threats of lynchings.

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In a step forward for human rights and plain sanity, the Senegalese Court of Appeals overturned — or rather, "annulled" — the convictions of "committing homosexuality" of nine men, reportedly part of an anti-AIDS group, and ordered their immediate release. They escape eight year prison sentences after their December arrest, which was trumped with with charges of organized crime (!) and unnatural acts.

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Earlier this week, we opened the lines and asked you, our loyal readers, what your most burning questions for the Queerty team were. You came up with 42 (which is an answer in itself, as Douglas Adams fans know), but we're just going to answer the most asked/ interesting ones.

Ready for some navel-gazing self-absorbed fun? Here we go!

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"Nine Senegalese men who were sentenced to eight years in prison for "indecent conduct and unnatural acts" are appealing against the decision. The men, most of whom belong to a group set up to combat HIV/AIDS, appeared at the Dakar Court of Appeal yesterday with their attorneys. The men's counsel argued that there was no material proof for the accusations, no specific complainant had filed charges against the men and that the time of their arrests (after 10pm) was illegal. The prosecution has not contested the defence plea. The nine men were arrested in December last year at the apartment of Diadji Diouf, a prolific LGBT leader, and sentenced in January." [Pink News]

The AP, BBC and other English language news sources (not to mention gay blogs) are just now reporting about the disgusting sentence given to 8 Senegalese men who were jailed for 8 years for being homosexual, three years longer than the already inhumane mandated sentence.

As a Queerty reader, you knew about it two days ago.

The sentence for the crime of 'homosexuality' is 5 years in prison in Senegal, but a judge sent eight men to prison today for eight years, presumably to make an example of them. Police arrested the men on December 19th at a flat in Dakar where they'd meet.

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Recently settled homos should stay away from Senegal, where they just jailed two men who married in Belgium.

The charges, however, are deeper than just tying the same-sex knot:

Senegal has jailed a Belgian retiree and his male Senegalese domestic helper for two years for "homosexual marriage and acts against nature," their lawyer said Thursday.

Richard Lambot, 61, and Moustapha Gueye, 63, who wedded in Belgium — where civil gay marriage is legal — last month, were sentenced by the Dakar regional court on Augusut 21, said lawyer Seyni Ndione.

"To help Moustapha Gueye get papers to live in Belgium, Richard Lambot married him in July," Ndione said, after which they returned to Senegal — a predominantly Muslim nation where homosexuality is frowned upon.

"Acts against nature"? That's more than a frown. Ndione blames a botched police investigation for that charge, not the nation's rampant homophobia.

The rising tide of homophobia in Senegal forced "dozens" of gays to flee across the border in Mali and Gambia, where homosexuality remains illegal. They're obviously not thinking with their heads on that one… [Afrol]

Senegal's rapidly becoming an epicenter of anti-gay activity in Africa. First, officials arrested men for participating in a "gay marriage". The subsequent prison release sparked riots and an activist's call for no amnesty. Now local media are reporting that the "gays" were released because they threatened to out high-ranking politicos. This shit's got more twists than Dynasty, but not nearly as entertaining. [Pink News]

Someone's got a limited view of amnesty. Senegalese activist Samba Guissé of the Council of Amnesty Senegal asked fellow members of Amnesty International to oppose any movements hoping to legalize same-sex relations. …[Guissé urged] various groups to dissociate themselves from the position of the International Human Rights Federation (FIDH) calling on the Senegalese authorities to "review the criminal code with a view to decriminalizing homosexual acts". He said that rights activists, particularly those belonging to AI Senegal, had no right, even in defense of human rights, to ask Senegal's core values be ignored." The statement comes just days after police broke up an anti-gay protest outside a mosque. [Africa News]

Things are really heating up in Senegal, where police dispersed a crowd of homophobic protesters earlier today. The uprising came in response to the recent arrest and subsequent release of six men accused of holding a "gay wedding". Infuriated by the so-called injustice, dozens of rabble-rousers met at a Mosque to cause a bit of chaos:

"We want homosexuals to be wiped out in this country. We will continue to fight for Senegal to become a Muslim nation," said Cheikh Tidiane Ndiaye, a fisheries agent among the stone-throwing demonstrators around the Grande Mosquee de Dakar.

"This practice does not conform to the religion practiced in our country," he said, dressed in traditional blue robes and a white skull cap, as police fired tear gas behind him.

Piles of rubbish were set ablaze in several blocks around the mosque and groups of youths shouting "We don't want homosexuals" barricaded roads.

Police originally attempted to ban the march, but were unsuccessful – until they got the tear gas, of course. Works like a charm!

No honeymoon here! Senegalese officials have arrested at least five men after a magazine published pictures from a same-sex "wedding ceremony," reports BBC. A pro-government paper describes the event's location as a "a meeting house which could act as a brothel". Can't any space act as a brothel?!

A Senegalese man got his non-denominational holiday wish!

The Italian high court overruled a lower court's deportation order:

[The court] has ruled that a gay illegal immigrant from Senegal can remain in Italy for now, and ordered a judge to examine the man's claim that he faces persecution in Senegal based on his sexual orientation.
…
The new ruling said "homosexuality is a condition of the human being deserving legal protection" and "sexual freedom must be construed as freedom to live without interference and restrictions with reference to sexual preferences."

How long until the right wing launches a crusade against the "protective" judiciary?

Developing countries' HIV/AIDS problems are developing at horrific rates:

Studies have found that infection rates are growing among men who have sex with men in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and less than 5 percent of those men have access to HIV-related health care, according to a statistics released by the American Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR.

"It is estimated that one in 20 men who have sex with men have access to appropriate HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services," Kevin Frost, amFAR's chief executive officer, told reporters. "This is a massive failure of the HIV/AIDS response globally and I think one that needs to be addressed."

Countries hit the hardest by the nasty retrovirus include Uruguay, Mexico and Senegal, where an estimated – and respective – 15%, 21% and 22% of men who have sex with men are infected with HIV. Kenya, meanwhile, boasts the most disturbing statistics: 40% of MSM carry the disease. That's some serious shit. No joke.

Lack of sex education, taboo and discrimination are cited as some of the causes for the startling infection rates. In an effort to help the masses, amFAR are looking to raise $3 million to provide health care and information in developing nations. It's a good start, but obviously not enough.