Tanzanian police arrest 10 men for sitting in pairs

[Mimy]

   

Tanzanian police arrest 10 men for sitting in pairs

Anti-gay rhetoric has steadily been on the rise in Tanzania since President John Magufuli took office. It is not the rhetoric that citizens need to be mindful of, however. The government is taking surveillance and intimidation action towards perceived homosexual activity. Now, it seems, the mere act of sitting in a pair is being viewed as criminal.

On 29 October, Dar es Salaam’s regional commissioner, Paul Makonda, declared that a government taskforce would undertake the capture of people believed to be part of the LGBTQI+ community and called on the public to report the names of suspected homosexuals.

Amnesty International has reported that 10 men have been arrested on suspicion of being gay in Zanzibar. The men were arrested when police raided a party at Pongwe Beach on 3 November after receiving a “tip-off” from members of the public about a same-sex marriage happening at the event.

Amnesty International states that police felt compelled to arrest the men, whom they found sitting “two by two”.

Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s deputy director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said, “It is mind-boggling that the mere act of sitting in a pair can assume criminal proportions. The police clearly have no grounds to file charges against these men in court, despite arresting them three days ago.”

In 2017, Tanzania’s then Minister of Home Affairs, Mwigulu Nchemba, told a rally that “those who want to campaign for gay rights should find another country that allows those things”. He also said that those who continued to work for LGBTQI+ rights would be arrested or deported and could see their organisations being shut down.

 

https://thisisafrica.me/tanzanian-police-arrest-10-men/

 

[Mimy]

While Kansans are electing native American lesbian as their governor, Africans are busy arresting men sitting in pairs and counselling male lions mounting each other from demonic possession.