Senegal: 32 people referred to the Criminal Court for ‘acts against nature’
Anti-LGBTQ repression continues as Senegal hosts Youth Olympic Games
While Senegal hosts the Youth Olympic Games through Nov. 13, the nation’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown has continued, with an investigating judge sending 32 people to trial on charges that include “acts against nature” and deliberate transmission of HIV.
Since Senegal amended its penal code in March to double prison sentences and criminalize the “promotion” of homosexuality, hundreds of people have been arrested, many of them tested for HIV against their will.
LGBTQ rights activist Fabrice Houdart notes and Human Rights Watch reports that HIV patients in Senegal are abandoning treatment for fear of being identified.
But during the days of the Youth Olympcs — the first Olympic games ever held in Africa — gay athletes taking part in the competition are shielded from being arrested.
Although the Olympic Charter prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the International Olympics Committee selected Senegal as an Olympic site at a time when the nation already imposed prison terms for same-sex activity. After the nation enacted even harsher anti-LGBTQ laws, the IOC still took a hands-off attitude, saying that it cannot change a host country’s laws.
The latest round of anti-LGBTQ repression came in Louga, in northwestern Senegal, where the Public Prosecutor at the Louga High Court moved the case against 32 arrestees from an investigation into the criminal court.
Starting last April, he had been investigating the 32 for alleged “criminal conspiracy, unnatural acts, intentional transmission of HIV/AIDS, endangering the lives of others, illegal collection of personal data, and sexual harassment.”
The group’s next hearing in criminal court is scheduled for Nov. 12, Seneweb reported.
