There were graphic scenes in Senegal on Saturday when a corpse of an alleged homosexual was exhumed and burned in front of a jubilant crowd in Léona Niassene, a religious town located in the commune of Kaolack.
The remains of the alleged homosexual had been transported to Touba in accordance with the wishes of his mother, but informed of the supposed sexual orientation of the deceased, the members of the Dahira Moukhadimatoul Khidma responsible for the management of the Great Mosque and cemeteries in Touba turned away the procession.
Back in Kaolack, the family members buried the remains in “secret” at the cemetery. The young people from the Ndagane district (Kaolack), who had besieged the mortuary house on Friday to oppose the burial of the alleged homosexual in Kaolack, were able to unravel the mystery and extract the body from the vault before burning it.
In Senegal, a country with a 95% Muslim population, homosexuality is an offense punishable by one to five years in prison. This incident recalls that of 2008 in Guinguinéo, where the grave of an alleged homosexual was desecrated.
The incident has attracted condemnation from rights organisations.
