Senegal’s president signs harsher anti-gay penalties into law

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has signed into law a new provision increasing the punishment for homosexuality in the largely Muslim West African nation, the latest African country to impose harsher penalties against the LGBTQ+ community.

The law was passed by parliament last month with near-unanimous support. It doubles the punishment for those convicted from prison sentences of one to five years to between five and 10 years.

The president signed it on Monday.

The fines for the offense were also raised to a maximum of 10 million CFA ($17,609), but the bill retains the offense as a misdemeanor rather than a crime. During the parliamentary session, ministers argued that the previous 1966 law was too lenient.

The law classifies homosexuality along with necrophilia and bestiality under offenses deemed “acts against nature." It also punishes what it calls the “promotion” or “financing” of homosexuality, an attempt to crack down on organizations that support sexual and gender minorities.

But it also punishes anyone who accuses a person of homosexual acts “without proof.”

Laws proscribing homosexuality are common across Africa: more than 30 of the 54 countries criminalize same-sex sexual acts. Senegal has joined countries like Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania, where penalties can include 10 or more years of imprisonment. In Somalia, Uganda, and Mauritania, the offense can carry the death penalty.

Rallies in support of the new law were organized ahead of the vote in parliament by groups promoting Islamic values, and the police cracked down on alleged gay people and arrested at least a dozen people and created a climate of fear for the LGBTQ community.

The proposed law fulfills a campaign promise of the prime minister, who had tried but failed to introduce it when he was in the opposition.