Senegal: after attacking Sonko on homosexuality, an activist and a preacher arrested

Published on May 22, 2024

Reading: 2 minutes.

The activist Bah Diakhaté, arrested Monday May 20 by the Criminal Investigation Division (Dic, judicial police), engaged in a video in attacks against Ousmane Sonko after a statement by This last on the theme of homosexuality Thursday. The preacher Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ndao, placed in police custody on Tuesday by the same services, reproached the Prime Minister in another video This which he denounces as complacency towards homosexuality.

The two men are under investigation for “spreading false news” and “offending” the head of government, said the even Source.

The brief. The keys to African news in your inbox

Every week, receive an African news story deciphered by our journalists.

Picture

the rest after this ad

“Not accepted, but tolerated”

The debate on homosexuality resurfaced in Senegal after the remarks made Thursday by Ousmane Sonko on the occasion of the visit of the French radical left opponent Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The Prime Minister, champion of sovereignism and pan-Africanism imbued with social concerns and traditional values, criticized the attempts of Western countries to impose their way of life on countries African and to push for the legalization of homosexuality. He spoke of “casus belli”.

The founder of the La France insoumise party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (left), and the Senegalese Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko (right), speak during a press conference in a hotel in Dakar, May 15, 2024. © SEYLLOU/AFP

To read : In Senegal, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Ousmane Sonko show their understanding

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

the rest after this ad

Ousmane Sonko demanded respect from Western countries for the specificities of African societies for which according to him “the question of gender is not new” and that “the [gèrent] their way “. “From the dawn of time until now, societies have lived with these phenomena and there has never been had persecution, neither here in Senegal, nor anywhere in Africa,” he declared. If the fact “is not accepted, it is tolerated,” he said.

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

the rest after this ad

(With AFP)

The Morning.

Every morning, receive the 10 key information on African news.

Picture

-

-

PREV After twelve years of absence, can the PLR ​​return to Geneva town hall in 2025?
NEXT The Geneva government regrets the “factual errors” in the report on Fabienne Fischer – rts.ch