Popular tourist destination The Gambia has, as widely expected, passed legislation to impose life jail sentences on anyone found guilty of committing certain homosexual acts.
The tone had been set earlier this year when President Yahya Jammeh declared that the acronym LGBT, which actually stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, in his opinion “can only stand for leprosy, gonorrhoea, bacteria and tuberculosis”. He said that his government would fight homosexuals in the same way that they fight malaria-spreading mosquitoes and other vermin, if not more aggressively.
The West African nation’s Penal Code describes homosexuality under “unnatural offences”, which include “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature”. The same article in the Penal Code also mentions “carnal knowledge of an animal” and imposes the same prison sentence for either offence – meaning, of course, that homosexuality is to be equal to bestiality in the eyes of the law and equally likely to attract a life sentence.
Curiously, however, “unnatural carnal knowledge” of a close family member or of a minor is regarded less harshly, since incest and paedophilia carry sentences of up to fourteen years in prison. Prior to the bill, which was signed in October, but has only recently received widespread attention outside The Gambia, homosexual acts were regarded as on a par with those offences.
The bill targets ‘serial offenders’ and people living with HIV, but because ‘homosexuality’ and ‘homosexual acts’ are not defined in Gambian law, human rights groups fear that LGBT people will be persecuted arbitrarily under the new enactment.
Suspects can also be charged with “aggravated homosexuality” for engaging in homosexual acts with someone who is under 18, disabled or who has been drugged. The term also applies when the suspect is the parent or guardian or is “in authority over” the ‘victim’.
“The new law treats consensual, private sexual activity between adults of the same sex – which should not be a crime – in the same way as rape and incest,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International deputy regional director for west and central Africa.
“The 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 LGBT people in the country.”
Jammeh, a former military officer who seized power in a 1994 coup, has repeatedly denounced homosexuality and once vowed to behead gays, although he later retracted the threat. Last year, he told the UN General Assembly that “those who promote homosexuality want to put an end to human existence.”
“It is becoming an epidemic and we Muslims and Africans will fight to end this behaviour”, he said.
He has also been criticized for other rights abuses, including allowing the execution of nine people by firing squad in 2012. In remarks aired on state television on Sunday night, Jammeh said he would push for a law imposing capital punishment for child rapists and people convicted of “baby dumping,” or abandoning their children.
“And I will implement the law to the letter,” he said.
