By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A court in Senegal has sentenced two men to three months imprisonment for “spreading false news” after they accused the country’s Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko of tolerating homosexuality.
Activist Bah Diakhate and Imam Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ndao in addition to the prison term, were also fined 100,000 CFA francs ($165, £130) each.
The duo accused Sonko of allowing a visiting French politician to express his support for same-sex marriages, a development that did not go down well with them in the country where LGBTQ is banned in the mainly Muslim West African. It is also punishable by up to five years in prison.
Heritage Times HT gathered that the political activist and the preacher were arrested two weeks ago after posting a video attacking Mr Sonko for giving a platform to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left French politician.
Mr Mélenchon gave his opinion about same-sex marriages at a student forum in the capital Dakar, in mid-May.
His comments reportedly sparked boos from the audience at Cheikh Anta Diop University.
In response, Sonko an activist himself said that Western countries should show restraint on social matters such as LGBTQ rights as it could “lead to anti-Western sentiment”.
Senegal would continue to manage issues around homosexuality in accordance with its socio-cultural norms, the Prime Minister said.
He was quoted as saying that homosexuality was “not accepted, but tolerated” in Senegal.
The former firebrand opposition leader, was appointed Prime Minister in April after his ally Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected President.
They were freed from prison not long before the vote in an amnesty aimed at calming months of political turmoil after the outgoing president had tried to postpone the election.
