By Jay Jackson, Trinidad Times
13 Nov 2018, 09:49 GMT+10
DODOMA, Tanzania - Ten men remain in custody after being arrested during a raid on a same-sex marriage on the island of Zanzibar in Tanzania.
Police say they raided the gay wedding at Pongwe Beach on Zanzibar, after receiving a tip-off from members of the public.
The raid came just five days after Dar es Salaams Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda announced plans to form a government taskforce to hunt down people believed to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI). Makonda said the hunt would start on Monday 5 November. The raid on the wedding at Pongwe Beach however took place on Saturday 3 November.
Around sixteen people had gathered for the beach wedding, 6 of them managed to get away. The other ten were arrested on suspicion of being gay.
Despite publicly vowing to hunt down homosexuals, a backlash pressured the Tanzanian government to back down, at least publicly. On Sunday 4 November, the Government of Tanzania, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described Makondas remarks as his personal opinion.
Ministry officials said that no one would be targeted and arrested because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.
This is a shocking blow following the Tanzanian governments assurance that no one would be targeted and arrested because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, Seif Magango, Amnesty Internationals Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes said on hearing of the arrests on Zanzibar island.
This appalling attack on Tanzanian people simply exercising their human rights shows the danger of inflammatory and discriminatory rhetoric at senior levels of government.
We now fear these men may be subjected to forced anal examination, the governments method of choice for proving same-sex sexual activity among men. This must not be allowed to happen - these men must be released immediately, the Amnesty official said.
The 10 men being held at Chakwa police station in Unguja, are being held with charges having been brought against them.
Amnesty International says it established that the men were arrested for allegedly conducting a gay marriage, with police saying they found the men sitting in pairs two by two.
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, Seif Magango said.
(File photo)
Get a daily dose of Trinidad Times news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Trinidad Times.
More InformationBAGHDAD, Iraq - Large portions of the Islamic State in Iraq have been either killed, captured or forced underground over ...
DAMASCUS, Syria - Five bomb disposal experts have been killed in a targeted attack in Syria. A car laden with ...
CHICAGO, Illinois - U.S. actor Jussie Smollett was granted bail on Thursday after appearing in a Chicago court charged with ...
DHAKA, Bangladesh - Scores of people have died tragically in a fire that has ripped through apartment buildings, a restaurant ...
MONTPELIER, Vermont - Soon after announcing he is having another tilt at the presidency, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has named a ...
NEW YORK, New York - The FBI began an investigation into whether U.S. President Donald Trump was a Russian agent, ...
New Delhi [India], Feb 22 (ANI): An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale rattled Peru on Friday. The quake ...
Geneva, 19 February, 2019 - The number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela worldwide now stands at 3.4 million, UNHCR, ...
London [UK], Feb 22 (ANI): England have rested Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes ahead of their upcoming three-match T20I series ...
Washington D.C. [USA], Feb 22 (ANI): American rapper Offset opened up about his relationship with rapper and wife Cardi B ...
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro ordered the vast border with Brazil to be closed on Thursday, just days before opposition leaders ...
Caracas [Venezuela] Feb 22 (ANI): Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday shut down the country's border with Brazil "until further ...
DUBLIN, Ireland - Following its successful acquisition of Hollywood-based Blindlight, Irish video-gaming company Keywords Studios has now announced its latest accomplishment. Keywords r ...
Read More