Niger Proposes Death Penalty For Same-Sex Marriage

76 Crimes reports:

The president of the West African nation of Niger is laying the groundwork for enacting harsh anti-homosexuality laws in his country, where same-sex intimacy is currently legal. He proposes the death penalty for people in same-sex marriages. Mohamed Bazoum, president of Niger, is preparing for a newly established committee of experts to develop the new anti-homosexuality laws.

Speaking on the public radio station La Voie du Sahel this week, Bazoum said: “Anyone who has feelings of love for someone of his own sex will be subject to an offense, to punish this deviance. For example, kissing another man when you are a man or kissing a woman when you are a woman will be punished. This will also be the case for caresses or other signs of affection. In addition, marrying someone of one’s own sex will now be considered a crime, which implies penalties that can range from 10 years of criminal imprisonment to life imprisonment or the death penalty.”

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According to Bazoum, officiants of same-sex ceremonies will face “similar penalties” as its participants.

Niger, population 25 million, is almost entirely Muslim and became independent from France in 1960, having never criminalized homosexuality.

76 Crimes takes its name from the number of countries that criminalized homosexuality when the site launched. That number is now 68.

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— 76Crimes (@76Crimes) January 24, 2023