Senegal Charges 71 Men With ‘Unnatural Acts’ In Homosexuality Crackdown

Senegal has charged 71 men with “unnatural acts” as authorities intensify a crackdown on homosexuality in the West African country.

The public prosecutor’s office announced the charges late Friday, saying the men had been brought before a court following a preliminary investigation.

According to a statement by the prosecutor’s office, charges against 28 other defendants were dropped entirely.

The latest development comes months after Senegal passed a new law increasing penalties for homosexual relations. Under the legislation, such relations are now punishable by between five and 10 years in prison.

More than 100 people, including some local celebrities, have reportedly been arrested in recent months on suspicion of homosexual acts and, in some cases, the deliberate transmission of HIV.

The prosecutor’s office said the latest charges followed a preliminary investigation. It added that separate allegations of “endangering the lives of others” and “wilful transmission of HIV/AIDS” had been dismissed.

Prosecutor Saliou Dicko told AFP on Saturday that a French national, an engineer in his thirties who lives in Dakar, had also had charges against him dropped.

The man had been detained since February on suspicion of “unnatural acts.”

Dicko said the public prosecutor’s office had appealed the decision to drop the charges.

Senegal’s latest crackdown comes amid a broader trend across parts of West Africa, where several countries have recently introduced or strengthened laws criminalising same-sex relationships.