The Gambia, a country in West Africa, has a subpart human rights record. In fact, the human rights record is so poor that the European Union cut about €13 million of humanitarian aid from the country. The freeze was in response to a law President Jammeh signed on “aggravated homosexuality”. Homosexuality is illegal in Gambia and punished with a maximum sentence of 14 years. The new law increases the sentence to life in prison for homosexual men and women with repeated offenses, or who are HIV-positive. The foreign aid cut has not swayed President Jammeh’s attitude towards gays.
A Blunt Threat.While he was on an agricultural tour in the country, Jammeh made a stop in the town of Farafeni, and in a public speech, the president boldly stated “If you do it [homosexuality] [in The Gambia] I will slit your throat. If you are a man and want to marry another man in this country and we catch you, no one will ever set eyes on you again, and no white person can do anything about it.” The reference to white people was probably against the European Union’s freeze against the country. This law continues a trend in the president’s behavior against gay men and women. He has previously called them “vermins” and made a promise to fight them “like malaria-causing mosquitoes.” He has also advised them to flee the country, or else he would chop their heads off.
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