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Senegal has first conviction under law toughening punishment for homosexual acts

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A court in Senegal has issued the first conviction under a new law increasing the punishment for homosexuality.

A court in Dakar suburb Pikine-Guédiawaye sentenced a 24-year-old laborer on Friday to six years in prison and fined him 2 million CFA ($3,300) for “acts against nature and public indecency.” He was arrested earlier this month.

Senegal, a largely Muslim nation, is the latest African country to impose harsher penalties against the LGBTQ+ community. The law increases prison sentences to between five and 10 years.

The law also punishes what it calls the “promotion” or “financing” of homosexuality, seen as an attempt to crack down on groups that support sexual and gender minorities.

Human Rights Watch researcher Larissa Kojoué told The Associated Press on Monday the law has created a climate of “constant fear” and arrests have become more aggressive “because now there is backing from the state apparatus.”

More than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries criminalize homosexual acts. In Somalia, Uganda, and Mauritania, the offense can carry the death penalty.

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes, threatens to end talks to end the war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to U.S. airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” could come to negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks. Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas, without Iran's direct oversight sparked the crossfire now gripping the region. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran. Iran insists it alone must govern the strait after the war, upending decades of the world considering that the strait was international waters free for all, despite its sitting in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. Tehran has twice attacked vessels going through the Oman route, backed by a United Nations agency, in recent days. Early Sunday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the United States.
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