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.
Earlier this month, the men appealed the decision of a lower court. Their eight-year sentences, as we understand it, were actually three years longer than the standard five-year sentences dealt to homo criminals.
But make note: The men were released not because the court ignored "predominantly Islamic" Senegalese law, which makes gay sex a crime, but because the judges sided with the defense's argument that the arrests were made based on anonymous tips, and the men were not caught doing anything illegal.
And none of this will quell the trend of gay Senegalese men fleeing the country, to neighboring Mali and Gambia, to avoid persecution. Or police arrests of gay wedding attendees. And let's not forget the arrests of two men there, one Belgian, for legally marrying abroad.
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Maybe if the title to this said "Hot Naked 19 year old kids from Senegal" people would read it.
@Mark M: Um, I read it. I also commented, before this was posted, in the post that queerty had about it from a week or so ago, noting the decision today.
But yes, muscular young men are quite popular on this blog.
Let me add to that list of countries that homosexuals are fleeing from: Namibia, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Egypt, DRC, Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania etc etc. Nearly the whole of Africa's homosexuals are persecuted in some way or the other with the exception being South Africa.
is there a charity set up up to help them flee? an underground railroad of sorts?
It is incorrect to report that some Senegalese gays did flee to Gambia. A few did last year, then the Pres of Gambia, who is West Africa's version of Robert Mugabe (dictatorial, irrational, power-hungry and murderous), declared that all homosexuals found in Gambia would be killed. After an international outcry from alert groups (typically unreported in the int'l press), the Pres retracted his statement the next day and said they would only be arrested. After that, suspected gays were arrested by gleeful police (who only remembered the first presidential announcement) and beaten. I know personally of one case of a non-Gambian resident "caught" who nearly died after being beaten and left for dead on the road by police who dragged him out of a friend's apartment. Since then others have fled Gambia given the environment. In comparison, the environment in Senegal remains more tolerant than Gambia, Zimbabwe or Kenya but more extremist elements within Senegal use gay-baiting to further their political agenda. From the beginning of the arrests of the 9, the Senegalese Minister of Health (and others) have tried to find a quiet way to release these guys and avoid a domestic political reaction. They couldn't release them until after the March 22nd local elections and now have. I do fear, however, that extremist Islamic militants, although they are not widely supported, may arrange to harm or kill some or all of the group. Some have reported that they will issue a "fatwa" to do so. The int'l community must protect these guys at all costs.