Gambian’s Criminalization of Homosexuality is Inhumane and un-Islamic

NEW YORK - Dec. 1, 2014 - PRLog -- The Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO) and Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) harshly denounce the bill that Gambian President Yahya Jammeh recently signed into law, amidst international outcry and backlash, which imposes harsh sentences, including life in prison, for the crime of “aggravated homosexuality”.

MPV and the UU-UNO also condemn the unjust detention by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency (NIA) of five men, three women, and one teenage boy who are accused of committing homosexual acts and we would like to convey our sympathy to the victims affected by this atrocity. The victims have been held captive with no prospect for due process since Jammeh initiated a barbaric witch-hunt in persecution of the Gambian LGBTQI demographic. Their detainment is incongruent with international human rights law, and violates key articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which The Gambia acceded in 1979.

Jammeh is noted to have made extremely homophobic statements and has intentionally crafted his anti-LGBTQI agenda to incite the majority Muslim population’s endorsement in the effort to realize his vision of The Gambia without a single LGBTQI national. In fact, in his address to the United Nations General Assembly in 2013 (http://www.statehouse.gm/Speeches/UN-68th-Gen-assembly-st...), Jammeh strongly reiterated this position to the international community: “Those who promote homosexuality want to put an end to human existence, it is becoming an epidemic and we Muslims and Africans will fight to end this behavior.” It has been reported that this rhetoric has been endorsed by some local imams who promote Jammeh's hate speech and persecutory incitement throughout The Gambia.

Moreover, it is quite disturbing and morally reprehensible that Jammeh has endorsed the beheading of LGBTQI individuals, noting that these barbaric acts are in accordance to Islamic principles. MPV and UU-UNO affirm that Jammeh’s actions and words are in direct contradiction to the virtues of Islam and we affirm that there is no Islamic foundation for the criminalization of homosexuality or same-sex acts.

MPV and the UU-UNO call on President Jammeh to immediately release the individuals held captive and to revoke this newly passed anti-LGBTQI legislation and amend other discriminatory provisions in its Criminal Code Act in accordance with international human rights law. We call on him as the head of The Gambian nation to treat all citizens justly, and to eradicate discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, not just for ethical reasons but for the prosperity of his country and for the sake of human existence.