Tunisia: Teen gets 4-month sentence for homosexuality
A Tunisian judge has sentenced a 16-year-old to four months in prison for homosexuality. The youth will serve the sentence at a reform school.
The Tunisian LGBT rights advocacy group Shams condemned to the juvenile court action:
“Shams strongly denounces this prison sentence for a 16-year-old minor for homosexuality. Remember: He is a homeless teen who found refuge with his friends for food and shelter. In addition, the court record shows that nothing was proved against him. [His refusal of an anal examination was taken as proof of his guilt.] And, if he was homosexual, the prison sentence will not change his sexual orientation because homosexuality is not a crime nor a disease nor a choice.”
The Tunisian news website Kapitalis.com reported:
Homosexuality: Four months of prison for a 16-year-old
The juvenile court judge in Sousse sentenced, in absentia, a teenager of 16 years to four months of imprisonment, for homosexuality.
Arrested in May, he was released with the requirement that he return to court on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. He was absent at the hearing, so the judge sentenced him in absentia to four months in prison. He will not serve that time in prison but, because he is still a minor, at the reform school in Sidi El-Hani.
The teenager was convicted of violating Article 230 of the Criminal Code, which provides for the use of those notorious anal tests, which are supposed to prove the sexual orientation of the accused in homosexuality cases. However, the youth did not undergo that test; he refused to be subjected to it, considering it an affront to his human dignity. His refusal was considered by the judge as evidence of guilt.
Related articles:
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- Q. Can Tunisia’s only queer shelter be saved? A. Yes
- Tunisian filmmaker, student jailed on gay-sex charges (March 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Tunisia: 2 months in jail for 2 men for behaving like women (March 2017, 76crimes.com)
- 2 young Tunisians sentenced to 8 months for gay sex (March 2017, 76crimes.com)
- New coalition in Tunisia fights for LGBTQI rights (February 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Tunisian judge jails trans woman pending indecency trial (January 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Jan. 6 trial in Tunisia for being gay on the street (December 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Tunisian police arrest and humiliate trans youth (November 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Amid democratic reforms, deeper troubles for LGBT Tunisians (October 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Homophobic attack on LGBTI rights defender in Tunisia (August 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Tunisia: Attack targets LGBTQ activist from Shams
- Appeal for an end to anti-LGBT campaign in Tunisia
- Human rights advocates decry 3-year sentences in Tunisia (December 2015, 76crimes.com)
- Tunisia: Death threats against LGBT activists (December 2015, 76crimes.com)
- Tunisian LGBT rights group under attack (December 2015, 76crimes.com)
- Tunisian justice minister seeks repeal of gay sex ban
- Tunisia: Protests against anal exam, sodomy sentence (September 2015, 76crimes.com)
I can almost assure you there will be those in a juvenile center that are also gay, so doing this will not change anything. He stood up for his rights to refuse to be humiliated by doctors, meaning would they also have police to observe the test ? People who are locked up usually will succumb to gay sex whether it be oral or intercourse in situations like this, but would not participate once released from male on male lock up. Hormones do strange things to people when they have no outlet. Just because one experiments one time with same sex, doesn’t make them homosexual either. Ignorance rules these people in their religious prisons to control and have power on others bedroom practices. Shame on them ! When will they learn you can not legislate morality either ?