Report: Gambian arrests of LGBTI now total 16

Gambian security forces have arrested even more LGBTI people, reports Fatou Camara, a journalist and former Gambian official who fled to the United States:

• Right now about 16 are in detention; they have still not been released nor charged.
• The president’s personal doctor was named by the teenager, [a gay youth who is being taken door-to-door to identify other allegedly gay Gambians,] but security forces let him go.
• A businessman was named, but he too was let go. This means only poor gays/lesbians are being detained, not fair at all.
• 8 are on the run in Senegal, 2 in Guinea Bissau.

The security forces of Gambian strongman Yahya Jammeh began their latest round of anti-gay arrests in early November. For details, see the articles below.

Jammeh is virulently homophobic, often referring to LGBTI people as “vermin,”  “satanic,” a threat to population growth, “anti-god, anti-human, and anti-civilization.”

Related articles

• Gambia plans life sentences for gay ‘repeat offenders’ (Sept. 8, 2014, 76crimes.com)
• Report: Gambian arrests, detention, search for gays  (Nov. 13, 2014, 76crimes.com)
• Report: Total of Gambia’s anti-gay arrests reaches 8 (Nov. 15, 2014, 76crimes.com)
• Gambia must stop wave of homophobic arrests and torture (Nov. 19, 2014, 76crimes.com)
• UNHCHR alarmed at LGBT arrests, detentions in Gambia (Nov. 20, 2014, 76crimes.com)
• Gambia: Life Sentence for ‘Aggravated Homosexuality’ (Nov. 21, 2014, 76crimes.com)
• Gambia: “ungodly” gays “detrimental to human existence” (Nov. 30, 2014, 76crimes.com)