Gays fear Islamist offensive

2008-09-25 16:11

Madrid - Moroccan homosexuals may get rights within 50 years if the increase of Islamism does not prevent it, their representative Samir Bargachi said on Thursday in the Spanish capital Madrid.

The Moroccan homosexuals' association Kif-Kif was participating in an international congress on the rights of homosexuals in Muslim countries.

Kif-Kif had some 3 000 members in France, Canada, Spain and Morocco, said Bargachi, who is the president of the association.

Bargachi described Morocco as one of the most tolerant Muslim countries towards homosexuals. Kif-Kif claims to have unofficial contacts with the Moroccan Socialist Party.

However, homosexuality remains a crime in Morocco where police continue detaining gays.

The congress was planning to collect signatures against the death penalty for homosexuals in Iran, where 4 000 gays have been executed over the past 26 years, according to figures given by the Spanish gays' association Colegas. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA