Troops in Mali save 2 gay men from execution
Troops from France and Mali have saved two gay men from execution by Islamist insurgents who had seized control of the region, Reuters reported.
The rescue of Badou Ahmed and Alitiin Ag Oussman was one result of an international intervention against a ten-month occupation by Islamist rebels from Tuareg tribes, including the city of Gao in eastern Mali.
Pink News reported:
Speaking to Reuters, one of the men saved from execution, Badou Ahmed, said he faced an unfair trial after being imprisoned for being gay.
He said: “During the trial, there were no defense witnesses, it was controlled. They told us they were going to cut our throats for being homosexual, even though another man said that without witness testimony, we should not be.”
The rebels had taken over the majority of northern Mali, and had been enforcing Sharia law, including ruling that gay people should be executed.
A second man saved when French forces intervened, Alitiin Ag Oussman, said he had been already awaiting execution.
He said: “I was in prison and I was waiting to be executed the next day when I heard bombing throughout the night. In the morning a crowd arrived, breaking my cell door to get me out, they told me they that I was free, the city is liberated from Islamists.”
Mali has no law against homosexuality, but the rebels operated under Islamic sharia law, which allows men to be executed for same-sex relations.
This is a transcript of the Reuters video:
Celebrations in Gao as French and Malian forces liberate the town from Islamist fighters. For two men — accused of homosexuality — it was a stay of execution.
BADOU AHMED, SAYING: “During the trial, there were no defense witnesses, it was controlled. They told us they were going to cut our throats for being homosexual. Even though another man said that without witness testimony, we should not be.”
Another man shows the room where he awaited his death sentence.
ALITIIN AG OUSSMAN, SAYING: “I was in prison and I was waiting to be executed the next day when I heard bombing throughout the night. In the morning a crowd arrived, breaking my cell door to get me out, they told me they that I was free, the city is liberated from Islamists.”
France deployed 3,500 ground troops in a campaign launched last month to help clear northern Mali of Islamist rule. For at least two men — it was a campaign that saved their lives.
Related articles
- Escape from Execution in Mali (Reuters video)
- Mali: Two men saved from execution for being gay, following French intervention (pinknews.co.uk)
- Refugees complain of ethnic elimination in #Mali (alhittin.com)
“…Result of an international intervention against a ten-month occupation by Islamist rebels from Tuareg tribes, including the city of Gao in eastern Mali.” This portrayal does not align to the ones I’ve been hearing. The Tuareg rebels (who have backed the French) were pushed out by “Islamist extremists,” because the Tauregs themselves are bringing-in non-Islam (African cultural heritage, i.e., Egypt) into Islam, so says the Arabic Muslims, who believe themselves to be cleansing upon the heathen region.