Senegal: 3 months in prison after comments against the PM on homosexuality

Senegalese justice on Monday sentenced a political activist and a preacher to three months in prison for “spreading false news”, after their comments targeting Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and his recent statements on homosexuality, told AFP one of their lawyers.

The two men, judged in flagrante delicto by the Dakar court on May 27, were also ordered to each pay a fine of 100,000 FCFA (150 euros), indicated Me El Hadji Amadou Sall.

The prosecution had requested six months in prison against the political activist Bah Diakhate and the preacher Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ndao, prosecuted for “disseminating false news” and “insulting” against the head of government, the latest offense for which they were sentenced. been “relaxed”, according to Me Sall.

Close to the opposition, Bah Diakhate, arrested on May 20 by the Criminal Investigation Division (Dic, judicial police), engaged in a video in attacks against Mr. Sonko after a statement by the latter on the theme of homosexuality on the occasion of the mid-May visit of the French radical left opponent Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

The preacher Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ndao, placed in police custody on May 21 by the same services, criticized the Prime Minister in another video for what he denounces as complacency with regard to homosexuality.

Both men remained in detention following their conviction.

Mr. Sonko, champion of sovereignism and pan-Africanism imbued with social concerns and traditional values, criticized what he considers to be attempts by Western countries to impose their way of life on African countries and to push for legalization of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is widely considered a deviance in Senegal where the law punishes so-called “unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex” with imprisonment of one to five years.

Circles close to religious people, opponents and activists have criticized Mr. Sonko for having defended tolerance towards homosexuality and for having offered Mr. Mélenchon a platform to plead the cause of sexual minorities .

AFP