From The Guardian: Tajikistan authorities draw up list of gay and lesbian citizens
Authorities in Tajikistan have drawn up a register of 367 allegedly gay citizens, suggesting they would be required to undergo testing to avoid “the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases”.
Details of the move was unveiled in Zakonnost, a newspaper published by Tajikistan’s state prosecutor, which said the official list of “gay and lesbian” citizens was compiled following research into the LGBT community.
Rights activists in this authoritarian central Asian nation have in the past raised fears over discrimination faced by LGBT individuals in this conservative country that is mainly Muslim but has secular authorities.
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From the Washington Post: With midnight raids and chat-room traps, Egypt launches sweeping crackdown on gay community
CAIRO — A crackdown on gay people in Egypt intensified in recent days as security forces raided cafes in downtown Cairo and courts delivered harsh prison sentences, further driving the nation’s LGBT community underground.
More than 60 people have been arrested, human rights activists said, since a concert last month by a rock group where some members of the audience waved a rainbow flag — photos of which went viral on social media and caused public outrage.
Security forces have also detained people at their homes in the middle of the night, and have used apps and online chat rooms to entrap those believed to be gay. Some cafes frequented by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community have been shut down.
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| Maxim Lapunov said he was picked up by police and held for 12 days. / AFP |
Six months after reports emerged that gay men were being detained illegally and tortured in the Russian republic of Chechnya, a young man has spoken publicly for the first time about his ordeal.
Maxim Lapunov has described being held for 12 days in a blood-soaked cell, beaten with sticks, threatened and humiliated by police.
But despite reporting what he endured to the authorities, his lawyer says no proper investigation has been conducted.
Mr Lapunov, who is 30 and from Siberia, had been working and living in Chechnya for two years when he alleges he was grabbed and dragged into a car one night in March by two men he didn't know.
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From The Daily Mail: Tanzania arrests 12 for "homosexuality" in Dar es Salaam
Tanzanian police said Wednesday they had arrested 12 men, including two South Africans and a Ugandan, for presumed homosexuality as part of an ongoing crackdown against gays.
"We arrested the criminals at (the hotel) Peacock -- they were promoting homosexuality. Two are South Africans, one Ugandan and nine Tanzanians," Dar es Salaam police head Lazaro Mambosasa said at a weekly press conference.
He said the 12 were being questioned ahead of being sent before a court and did not say when they had been arrested.
"Tanzanian law forbids this act between people of the same sex, it is a violation of our country's laws," said Mambosasa. He added the hotel manager was among those arrested for "providing a room" for the others.
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1 comment:
Terribly depressing. A decade or so back few of us would have thought that things would take such a nasty turn in so many parts of the world. In fact I was even feeling confident that a corner had been turned and that the rest of the world would start to catch up on a progressing worldwide enlightenment. How wrong I was!
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