Senegal Doubles Prison Terms for Homosexuality

0:00Senegal's president, Basirou, Dail Maifay, just inked a new law ramping up penalties for homosexuality in this mostly Muslim-West African spot. Prison terms now double from one to five years straight to five to ten years, and fines shoot up to ten million CFA francs, roughly seventeen thousand, six hundred nine U.S. dollars. Parliament green-lit it last month with almost full backing, and Fay put his signature on it Monday. The measure lumps same-sex acts with stuff like necrophilia and bestiality as crimes against nature, while also hitting anyone pushing or funding, LGBTQ causes. Rally's popped off before the vote, led by groups waving Islamic flags and cops moved in hard, nabbing at least a dozen folks they pegged as gay, leaving the community on edge. This fits a pattern across Africa, where over thirty of fifty-four nations banned same-sex acts, think Kenya and Tanzania, with ten-plus-year sentences, or Uganda and Somalia, where it can

1:00mean death. Fay's move delivers on a key pledge from his team's campaign days, tightening what they called a two-soft 1966 rule as the pushback, against LGBTQ rights keeps rolling strong. I'm Cory with the story, and you've been listening to Canada News today, AI-powered local news.