DAKAR (AFP) — Dakar's court of appeal on Monday overturned jail convictions for homosexuality against nine Senegalese nationals and ordered their release, a decision welcomed by the UN and rights groups.
The men, sentenced by a lower court to eight years in prison for homosexual conduct, were due to be released by the evening, their lawyers said.
Part of a group involved in HIV/AIDS education, they were convicted of "indecent acts against nature" and membership of a criminal organisation after their arrests in December at a private apartment in a Dakar suburb.
Defence lawyers argued at the beginning of the appeal last week that the police report on which the accusations against the men had relied mainly on anonymous tip-offs.
Nor had the men been 'caught in the act' as the prosecution had suggested during the trial.
The prosecution did not contest the defence claims.
"The Senegalese justice has delivered its judgement with complete responsibility and not in function of outside orders," defence lawyer Biram Sassoum Sy said, referring to international concern over the men's fate.
AIDS and rights groups applauded the ruling.
"Homophobia and criminalization based on a person?s sexual orientation is fuelling the AIDS epidemic," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said in a statement.
"I welcome today?s decision by the court of appeal to release these men.
"We urge Senegal to take steps to remove such laws that block the AIDS response," he added.
For its part, the Dakar-based human rights watchdog Raddho called for a debate on "the total decriminalisation of homosexuality."
Homosexuality is illegal in Senegal where 95 percent of the population is Muslim. Homosexual acts are punishable by up to five years in prison.
The additional three years in prison was due to the judge in the initial trial ruling that the association most of the men worked for was actually a cover for recruiting gay men, according to media reports.
The eight-year sentence was the highest ever to be handed down in Senegal for a homosexuality conviction. It sparked international outrage, notably among human rights organisations.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy also expressed his "emotion and concern" at the original verdict.
But the vast majority of Senegalese had approved the imprisonment of the nine men, whom they disparaged as "goordjiguen" or "men-women" in the Wolof language.
The defence had protested the men's detention in a notoriously cramped jail in Dakar, arguing they faced constant insults and threats, before they were transferred for their own security to another centre.
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