Nine Men Jailed For Eight Years For Being Gay

In Senegal, nine gay men under the age of 30 have been sentenced to eight years in prison for being gay ...


The men, who were all arrested together in December in a suburb of the capital Dakar, had been charged with "indecent conduct and unnatural acts and membership of a criminal organisation."

Joel Nana, of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, said: "We are in shock. This is the first case that I have heard of where someone is sentenced to eight years in jail for homosexuality."

Despite the majority Muslim country deeming homosexual acts punishable by a maximum sentence of five years, the judge bumped the sentences up to eight years after taking into account their "membership of a criminal organisation".

The "criminal organisation" most of the men belonged to is said to be an association set up to fight against HIV/AIDS.

The group was arrested after an anonymous tip-off and the group were arrested "while they were in the act and they had pornographic pictures," a source told the AFP.

The men's lawyers said they would appeal the sentence.

Senegalese gay activists say homophobic sentiments have surged in the last year.

After an HIV/AIDS conference in Dakar in December, an Islamic group slammed as "inappropriate" the participation of gays in the conference.