Senegal police probe 24 men for ‘homosexual activities’.
A group of 24 men in Senegal are under a criminal investigation for alleged “homosexual activities”, a police source said Monday in the west African country, where homosexuality remains illegal.
Officers arrested the men on December 24 at a house in the seaside resort of Saly, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Dakar, for allegedly engaging in homosexual acts and holding an unauthorised party, the police source said.
They were released the next day but police are continuing their investigations, the source added.
“They can be called in again at any time. The two organisers were questioned today to see if there is anything to follow up with in this case,” the source said.
The source said officers found condoms, lubricants, wigs and makeup when they raided the house in Saly where the party is said to have taken place.
Homosexuality is a crime in largely Muslim Senegal and carries a jail sentence of up to five years.
Human rights groups want that law scrapped but the government insists that is has no plans to do so.
Senegalese Foreign Minister Madicke Niang on December 10 said there is “no question that homosexuality will be decriminalised in Senegal.”
Almost a year ago, judges there convicted nine Senegalese men of “indecent acts against nature” and membership of a criminal organisation after they were arrested at a private apartment in Dakar.
The Senegalese court of appeal overturned the ruling last April and ordered that the nine men be released.
