by Nurat Uthman
A Senegalese court on Monday slapped a three-month jail sentence on two men for “disinformation” after they accused Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko of allegedly tolerating homosexuality.
Political activist Bah Diakhate and preacher Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ndao also were each ordered to pay a fine of $160 (100,000 CFA francs), their lawyer El Hadji Amadou Sall said.
Diakhate was detained on May 20 over a video in which he attacked Sonko for his comments on homosexuality during a visit earlier that month by French far-left politician, Jean-Luc Melencho.
The preacher was held in detention a day later for another video in which he denounced Sonko’s “complacency” toward homosexuality.
Religious figures and other activists in Senegal criticized Sonko for his perceived tolerance and for giving a platform to Melenchon to speak on the topic.
Sonko had recently warned that insistence on LGBTQ rights in diplomatic relations and from multinational organizations could lead to “anti-Western sentiment.”
Homosexuality is stigmatized in the West African nation, where a law against “acts against nature with an individual of the same sex” carries a penalty of up to five years imprisonment.
