by Rex Wockner
International News Briefs
There have been new arrests and convictions for same-sex relations in Senegal, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission reported Aug. 20.
Two men from the town of Darou Mousty were convicted in mid-August of illegal sexual acts "against nature" and jailed for two and five years respectively, IGLHRC said.
A third man, age 17, arrested at the same time faced trial Aug. 24. The situation of a fourth man arrested at the same time is unknown.
IGLHRC said "denunciations from neighbors were the only evidence against the men."
There has been a series of anti-gay arrests in Senegal since early 2008 for such "crimes" as "homosexuality," "incitement to debauchery," "corruption of good behavior," "acts against the order of nature," "indecent conduct" and "homosexual marriage," IGLHRC said.
The group also reported recent incidents of desecration of gay men's graves and exhumation of their bodies.
"In May 2009, the body of 30-year old Madieye Diallo was dug up from his grave in the town of Thies," IGLHRC said. "After his family re-buried him, his body was exhumed again and dumped outside the family's home. Finally, family members buried the body in the grounds of their own house."
Prime Minister Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye said in May that "homosexuality … is a sign of a crisis of values," ILGHRC said. Senegal's penal code punishes gay sex with up to five years in prison and a $3,000 fine.
