{"id":116789,"date":"2026-02-25T11:37:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T11:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116789"},"modified":"2026-02-25T11:37:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T11:37:31","slug":"senegal-pm-proposes-doubling-prison-sentence-for-same-sex-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116789","title":{"rendered":"Senegal PM proposes doubling prison sentence for same-sex relations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 9 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Senegal\u2019s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has introduced legislation that could double the maximum penalty for same-sex relations, making them punishable by up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n

The proposal was sent to parliament on Tuesday after cabinet approval last week, after a wave of arrests over alleged same-sex relationships, already banned under Senegal law.<\/p>\n

Addressing lawmakers, Sonko said the bill would punish what it describes as \u201cacts against nature\u201d with prison sentences ranging from five to 10 years, compared with the current one- to five-year terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf an act is committed with a minor, it will attract the maximum penalty,\u201d he said. The bill has been criticised by rights advocates.<\/p>\n

Debate over LGBT rights has long generated tension in Senegal, a conservative country where some groups portray pro-LGBT activism as foreign interference.<\/p>\n

Religious organisations have held demonstrations in recent years calling for harsher punishments.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, police detained 12 men, among them two public figures and a prominent journalist, under anti-LGBT laws. Local media outlets say around 30 people have been arrested in total this month.<\/p>\n

Sonko explained that the draft law defines any sexual conduct between two people of the same sex as an \u201cact against nature\u201d.<\/p>\n

The bill proposes prison terms of three to seven years for anyone found to be promoting or advocating same-sex relations.<\/p>\n

It also prescribes separate punishment for those who accuse others of homosexuality \u201cwithout proof\u201d.<\/p>\n

Those found guilty of crimes in the bill could also face fines up to 10 million CFA francs (about $18,000; \u00a313,000), Sonko added.<\/p>\n

Sonko said the revised law would keep the offence at its current misdemeanour level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can achieve the intended objectives without going so far as to elevate the acts to the level of more serious crimes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

A date has yet to be set for parliament to vote on the bill, in a chamber controlled by Sonko\u2019s Pastef party.<\/p>\n

Sonko, a former firebrand opposition leader appointed prime minister in 2024, had pledged to criminalise same-sex relations in the Muslim-majority country.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch said the recent anti-LGBT crackdown violated \u201cmultiple internationally protected rights,\u201d including equality and nondiscrimination.<\/p>\n

Several African countries have also introduced similar sanctions against the LGBT community in recent years. In September last year, Burkina Faso\u2019s transitional parliament approved a bill banning homosexual acts, following its neighbour Mali in 2024.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Uganda voted in some of the world\u2019s harshest anti-homosexual legislation meaning that anybody engaging in\u00a0certain same-sex acts\u00a0can be sentenced to death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Senegal’s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has introduced legislation that could double the maximum penalty for same-sex relations, making them punishable by up to 10 years in prison.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972,17478,1910,17479,10,9,17480,17481],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-anti-lgbt-law","category-international","category-ousmane-sonko","category-politics","category-popular","category-prison-terms","category-senegal-pm"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}