A Senegalese court has imprisoned two men for circulating false information after they accused Ousmane Sonko, the country’s new prime minister, of allying with homosexuals.
The culprits in question, activist Bah Diakhate and Imam Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ndao were sentenced to three months in jail and have been fined 100,000 CFA francs respectively.
The duo had been furious that Sonko had granted a visiting French politician to show his support for same-sex marriages publicly.
Note that homosexual acts are highly prohibited in Senegal, a mostly Muslim West African country and the crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The political activist and the preacher were nabbed a fortnight ago after posting a video that attacked Sonko for giving a platform to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left French politician to air his opinion about same-sex marriages at a student forum in the capital, Dakar, sometime in May.
His opinion had allegedly sparked disapproval from the audience at Cheikh Anta Diop University.
Sonko had reacted to incident by saying that Western countries should show restraint on social matters such as LGBTQ rights as it could “lead to anti-Western sentiment”.
The Prime minister was further quoted as saying that homosexuality was “not accepted, but tolerated” in Senegal.
Prime minister Sonko had been appointed prime minister in April after his supporter, Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected president.
