Senegalese justice has dropped the HIV transmission charges against 99 men arrested since February, but 71 of them will indeed be tried for homosexuality. A decision that comes in a context of unprecedented hardening of anti-LGBT repression, now extending to lesbians.
It is an emblematic case of the state’s growing homophobia in Senegal. The Dakar judiciary ruled this Friday, August 7, on the fate of 99 men arrested since February for homosexuality and prosecuted for “acts against nature,” “criminal association,” and “endangering the life of others.” The public prosecutor announced that 28 of them were granted a total discharge. Among them is a French national arrested on February 14. The remaining 71 are referred to the Dakar criminal court.
Everything began with 12 arrests carried out in early February in Dakar. Among those detained were two public figures well known to the Senegalese public: Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Diallo, known as “Pape Cheikh,” a television host, and Djiby Dramé, an artist and singer. All are accused of “criminal association,” “acts against nature with voluntary transmission of HIV/AIDS,” and “endangering the life of others.” In a matter of days, the case became a national media feuilleton. Several media outlets published the names of those arrested and detailed their serological status, with SeneNews even running the headline: “Pape Cheikh Diallo Case: the four last arrestees are HIV positive”.
An Unprecedented Manhunt
On February 24, while the case dominated the discourse of the homophobic press, Ousmane Sonko, then prime minister, announced in the National Assembly that he would introduce, as promised during the presidential campaign, a bill tightening the repression of homosexuality. Passed on March 11 and promulgated by President Faye, the law increases the penalty for homosexuality to up to ten years in prison. This was followed by a multiplication of arrests in the “Pape Cheikh” dossier. The manhunt then escalated. Through systematic exploitation of seized mobile phones, the police arrested a total of 99 people. Saliou Mbaye, a popular TikTok user known under the pseudonym “Zale,” was also arrested as he was preparing to flee to the neighboring Gambia.
In this climate of escalating homophobia, HIV provides the authorities with a means to maintain the conflation between homosexuality and “endangering the life of others.” At the end of six months of proceedings, Dakar’s judiciary nonetheless found a dismissal, “due to lack of evidence,” for all 99 men concerning this charge and that of “voluntary transmission of HIV/AIDS.” One of the case’s main pillars thus collapsed, without calling into question the prosecutions for “acts against nature.” The prosecutor, who appealed the decision, still demands that all 99 men be “tried without exception.”
On the ground, repression does not relent. On July 30, eight women aged 21 to 31 were also brought before the prosecutor for “criminal association” and “acts against nature.” The case is presented as the dismantling of a “network of lesbians active for four years between Dakar, Mbour and Thiès”. Indicted, the eight women have been placed in provisional detention.
