Convicted of ‘committing indecent acts’ and ‘inciting debauchery’, eight men have been sentenced to two years in jail for imitating women as they danced at a birthday party in Mauritania, an Islamic country. Initially mistaken to be a gay wedding, a video of their dance at the party had gone viral.
In a television interview on January 22, a local police commissioner confirmed the arrest of the men for ‘imitating women’ at the party, initially believed to be Mauritania’s first gay wedding.
According to the police report, the men, who acknowledged being homosexual, were without legal representation at the time of their admission. While all defendants pleaded not guilty during the trial and retracted their earlier statements.
The police report submitted to the courts described the party-goers as ‘imitating women’ and ‘sodomizers.’
A woman also received a one-year suspended sentence for ‘inciting debauchery’ by being present at the event, while the owner of the restaurant where the party took place was acquitted.
Graeme Reid, the LGBT rights director at Human Rights Watch, emphasized, ‘Mauritania’s authorities have no business sending someone to prison for attending a peaceful birthday celebration.’ He urged the immediate release of those sentenced to two years for attending the party.
Reid further stated, ‘The authorities appear to have imprisoned the eight defendants on the basis that singing and dancing at a birthday party is a crime in Mauritania.’
‘Mauritania can’t shy away from its obligations to protect basic rights of all its citizens without discrimination.’
Brahim Bilal, the president of a human rights organization in Mauritania, echoed similar sentiments, stating, ‘It is a serious attack on the individual and collective freedom of these young people who have the right to display their difference and intimate preferences.’
Mauritania enforces strict Islamic law, known as Shariah law, under which homosexual conduct between Muslim adults is punishable by death for men, although there is a de facto moratorium on capital punishment in the country.