Senegal: Authorities must protect nine men at risk of homophobic attack
Radio programmes broadcast call to throw stones at anyone suspected of ‘being a homosexual’
Amnesty International has called on the Senegalese government to ensure the safety of nine men at risk of homophobic attack. The nine men were released from jail last week, having been held on the basis of alleged sexual conduct.
Amnesty International’s Deputy Africa Programme Director, Veronique Aubert, said:
“These nine men were prisoners of conscience, sentenced solely on the basis of alleged sexual conduct, and should never have been jailed in the first place.
“The decision by Court of Appeal in Dakar to release them after they initially received an eight-year sentence is welcome. But it needs to be followed by concrete action from the authorities to ensure the men are safe from possible homophobic attacks.”
Since their release on 20 April, the media and an Islamic organisation have disseminated homophobic statements describing the nine men as “vicious” or “perverts” spreading AIDS.
Radio programmess have broadcast messages calling on the population to attack and throw stones at anyone suspected of “being a homosexual”. These statements amount to advocacy of hatred constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.
The nine men were arrested in Dakar on 19 December 2008 following anonymous accusations with regards to their sexual behaviour. Police officers also raided the house of the Secretary General of AIDES Senegal – an organisation providing HIV prevention services to men who have sex with men.
They were sentenced to eight years in prison after having been found guilty of “indecent conduct and unnatural acts and conspiracy” (“association de malfaiteurs”). They were released after the Dakar Appeal Court overturned the convictions.
The men told Amnesty International delegates who met them at the Camp Penal prison in Dakar in April that following their arrest, “a crowd of bystanders was waiting for us, they asked the police to remit us to the crowd as they threw stones at us and screamed: ‘These are fags, they should not be put in jail, they should be lynched, let them out, we'll kill them ourselves’.”
Over the last two years, there has been an increase in homophobic attacks, arbitrary arrests and increased hostility towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, same-sex practicing and transgender people in Senegal. The societal homophobia is exacerbated by the fact that consensual sexual conduct between people of the same sex is criminalised in Senegal.
Veronique Aubert continued:
“The Senegalese authorities must repeal the law criminalising consensual sexual conduct between people of the same sex, and provide immediate protection for those who may be subject to discrimination or attack on the basis of actual or perceived sexual conduct.”
Amnesty International is also calling for an investigation into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment against the nine men while they were in custody at the Mbao Sicap police station in Dakar, and for those responsible to be brought to justice. The organisation is concerned that confessions reportedly extracted from them under torture were accepted as evidence by the court during their trial, and that they were not allowed to read the interrogation reports containing their “confessions”.