24 MEN INVESTIGATED FOR HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITIES

It’s been reported that 24 men are being investigated for ‘homosexual activities’ in Senegal, a country with a growing reputation for the repression of LGBT people.

The men were arrested in a raid on a house party in the coastal town of Saly. They were released but are under continued investigation for engaging in homosexual acts.

Under Article 3.913 of the Senegalese penal code, homosexual acts are punishable by imprisonment of between one and five years and a fine of 100,000 CFA francs ($200) to 1,500,000 CFA francs ($3,000).

The county has been in the headlines over previous incidents involving homosexuality. In August, three men stood trial for committing “crimes against nature”, while, in April, nine men, who were convicted in January on charges of homosexuality, had their jail sentences overturned by the court of appeals in the capital Dakar.

There have also been reports of the bodies of gay men being repeatedly exhumed from cemeteries by people who refuse to have homosexuals buried in their graveyard.

According to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, in May 2009, Prime Minister Souleymane Ndiaye Ndéné asserted that “homosexuality… is a sign of a crisis of values” in Senegal and that the Senegalese government would become more involved in future attempts to repress and punish same-sex relations.