{"id":50524,"date":"2014-12-01T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T12:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=50524"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:27:14","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:27:14","slug":"gambia-life-sentence-for-aggravated-homosexuality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/12\/gambia-life-sentence-for-aggravated-homosexuality\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambia: Life Sentence for \u2018Aggravated Homosexuality\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Law Threatens LGBTI Community<\/em><\/p>\n

\"An<\/a><\/p>\n

21 Nov 2014 – <\/em>Gambia<\/a>\u2019s recent passage of a homophobic law<\/a> puts the already persecuted lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex<\/a> (LGBTI) community at even greater risk of abuse, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today.<\/p>\n

The new crime of \u201caggravated homosexuality,\u201d which carries punishments of up to life in prison, is part of a criminal code President Yahya Jammeh approved on October 9, 2014, documents uncovered in mid-November show. Among those who could be charged with \u201caggravated homosexuality\u201d are \u201cserial offenders\u201d and people living with HIV who are deemed to be gay or lesbian. Exactly what constitutes \u201chomosexuality\u201d or a \u201chomosexual act\u201d is not defined in Gambian law. That makes Gambia\u2019s criminalization of homosexual activity \u2013 which already violates international law \u2013 even more likely to be used broadly and arbitrarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new law treats consensual, private sexual activity between adults of the same sex \u2013 which should not be a crime \u2013 in the same way as rape and incest,\u201d said Steve Cockburn, deputy regional director for West and Central Africa at Amnesty International.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vague and imprecise provisions of this law could be used to arrest and detain anyone who is believed to be gay or lesbian, and contributes to the already severe climate of hostility and fear for LGBTI people in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gambian authorities failed to acknowledge the enactment of the \u201caggravated homosexuality\u201d law, despite repeated questioning during a United Nations review of the country\u2019s human rights record on October 28. Legislation in force in the country already criminalizes consensual, private sexual activity between adults of the same sex, in violation of international human rights law.<\/p>\n

Passing the law appears to form part of a broader attack on the LGBTI community in Gambia. At least three women, four men, and a 17-year-old boy were arrested between November 7 and 13 and threatened with torture because of their presumed sexual orientation. Another six women were arrested on November 18 and 19 and remain in detention, a member of the LGBTI community in Gambia reported.<\/p>\n

The detainees said that they were told that if they did not \u201cconfess,\u201d including by providing the names of others, a device would be forced into their anus or vagina to \u201ctest\u201d their sexual orientation. Such treatment would violate international law prohibiting torture and ill-treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cArresting and torturing people based on their sexual orientation is shameful, and inventing new crimes with even harsher sentences is scandalous,\u201d Cockburn said. \u201cGambia\u2019s new law not only flouts African human rights obligations, it violates its own constitution, which says that all people must be equal and free from discrimination before the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Jammeh should have used his constitutional powers to reject this homophobic bill, which was proposed by the National Assembly on August 25, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Jammeh\u2019s inflammatory public statements against LGBTI people have been put into practice through this odious law and the witch hunt that followed its secretive passage,\u201d said Monica Tabengwa<\/a>, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThe law and practice are an affront to the African Commission on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights resolution condemning violence against LGBTI people and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 hrw.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Law Threatens LGBTI Community \u2013 \u201cArresting and torturing people based on their sexual orientation is shameful, and inventing new crimes with even harsher sentences is scandalous. Gambia\u2019s new law not only flouts African human rights obligations, it violates its own constitution, which says that all people must be equal and free from discrimination before the law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sexualities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}