Senegal: a demonstration to demand the criminalization of homosexuality
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Demonstration in Dakar, Senegal, to demand the criminalization of homosexuality, this Sunday, February 20, 2022. © Théa Ollivier/RFI
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2 mins
In Senegal, a crowd gathered, this Sunday, February 20, on the Place de la Nation to demand the criminalization of homosexuality.
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With our correspondent in Dakar,
Théa Ollivier
A bill had been tabled last December in the National Assembly but had been rejected, the parliamentarians of the majority explaining that there is already article 319 of the Penal Code which punishes "
acts against nature and indecent assaults
”, a message repeated by the President of the Republic, Macky Sall, who did not convince some of the Senegalese.
Signs in hand in French, Wolof and Arabic, a large crowd calls for the criminalization of homosexuality.
A bill had been tabled by the collective And Sam Djiko Yi ("Together let's protect our values") which is behind this event.
Imam Pape Birame Sarr is part of the board of this group of more than 125 associations.
“
Our bill,
he said,
aims to increase the penalty.
Homosexuality does not exist in our values or in our faith.
Just like polygamy, which is prohibited in France, here too, homosexuality is prohibited.
»
Among the demonstrators, many students, like Aminata Sow, who is in the faculty of letters: “
Homosexuality has not been criminalized here, in Senegal.
Only the act against nature was penalised.
It's a big problem because our culture doesn't accept it.
Our religions do not accept it.
We will not tolerate homosexuality here in Senegal.
»
For Seydi Gassama, director of Amnesty International in Senegal, "
acts against nature are already very severely penalised
" by an article of law, criticized by the defenders of human rights, while several people have been arrested and sentenced these last years.
According to him, this mobilization is “
a political instrumentalization to weaken power and to attack the secular foundations of the country
”, a few months before the legislative elections which are to be held on July 31.
►Also read
: In Senegal, the majority will not vote for the law aimed at toughening the repression of homosexuality
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