Homosexuality is banned and men or women in same-sex relationships can face up to 14 years in prison/FILE
BANJUL, Apr 10 – Gambian police arrested fifteen men “suspected of homosexuality” at a bar in a suburb of the capital Banjul, police sources told AFP on Tuesday.
The men, all Gambians except one Senegalese, were arrested late Monday when police raided a bar in a popular tourist area.
Officers had received a tip of people “publicly displaying or promoting homosexual activities”, a senior police officer speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.
“They will be charged accordingly after we have completed our investigations,” the police official said.
The Gambia’s treatment of gays has long drawn criticism from international observers, who accuse the small west African nation of egregious homophobia.
Homosexuality is banned and men or women in same-sex relationships can face up to 14 years in prison.
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has repeatedly denounced homosexuality and in 2008 he even vowed to behead gays, a threat he later retracted.
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