Gays probed over death threats
2008-02-05 08:42
Dakar - Senegalese police interrogated on Monday several gay people suspected of making death threats against the editor of a magazine, which ran an article on a homosexual wedding.
"They are currently in the hands of the police criminal investigations division," said a senior police official, in reference to threats against Mansour Dieng, the editor and publisher of Icone monthly magazine.
Deng said that seven people, one of them a woman, were questioned by the police early on Monday after he had lodged a complaint about the death threats.
"The majority of these individuals, suspected of indulging in homosexuality, a practice outlawed in Senegal, were questioned by police at a meeting house, which could act as a brothel," said the pro-government Le Soleil newspaper.
Icone published a story last week on a homosexual wedding in predominantly Muslim Senegal graphically illustrated with pictures of a couple exchanging rings and several dozen guests whose faces were partially blackened.
Under Senegalese laws acts "against nature with an individual of the same sex" were punishable with a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a fine of between 100 000 CFA francs ($225) to one million francs.