Senegal’s parliament on Wednesday passed legislation doubling the maximum penalty for same-sex relations, making them punishable by up to 10 years in prison amid a crackdown on the country’s gay community.

The text, which must now be signed into law by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, passed by an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly and also includes criminal penalties for those found guilty of promoting or financing same-sex relationships.

Media have reported the arrest of dozens of men under the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws since February, when police arrested 12 men, including two local celebrities, at the start of a spate of recent detentions.

The bill punishes “acts against nature”, a term used to signify same-sex relations, by five to 10 years’ imprisonment, compared with one to five years previously.

It also provides for three to seven years in prison for anyone who engages in advocacy for same-sex relations.

Arrests have often been based on accusations and phone searches, which are reported almost daily, with the names of those detained made public.

The new law additionally penalises anyone who accuses another of same-sex offences “without proof”.

After debating for several hours, lawmakers approved the bill by a vote of 135 in favour, zero opposed and three abstentions.

“Homosexuals will no longer breathe in this country. Homosexuals will no longer have freedom of expression in this country”, lawmaker Diaraye Ba declared from the podium during the debate, to applause from some of her colleagues.

Under the bill, the maximum sentence will be handed down if the act was committed with a minor.

Punishment will additionally include fines from two million to 10 million CFA francs ($3,500 to $17,600), compared to 100,000 to 1.5 million CFA francs previously.

Some of those arrested have faced accusations of deliberately transmitting HIV, fuelling further fierce debate about same-sex relations.

Walking dangers

In recent years, LGBTQ issues have stirred controversy in Senegal, where gay-rights advocacy is frequently denounced as a tool used by Westerners to impose foreign values.

Religious associations in the Muslim-majority west African country have staged demonstrations to demand tougher penalties.

Ousmane Sonko, before becoming the country’s highly influential prime minister in 2024, had promised to make same-sex relations a crime, upping the offence from its current classification as misdemeanour.

However, the new law, which Sonko himself presented to parliament, maintains the same misdemeanour status.

This has led the opposition to accuse Sonko of failing to follow through on his promise.

Social media in Senegal have been flooded in recent weeks with homophobic messages and calls to out individuals accused of same-sex activity.

The highly publicized arrests have spawned headlines such as “Big homo clean-up” and “Bisexuals, walking dangers”.

Stories in recent days have also conflated the arrests for same-sex relations with a separate child sex abuse affair.

In that case, investigators dismantled a gang accused of sexual violence against minors, arresting 14 people.

Repression of same-sex relations is politically advantageous in a country where homosexuality is widely regarded as deviant.

At least 32 out of Africa’s 54 countries have laws on the books prohibiting and punishing same-sex relations.

The death penalty is imposed in Uganda, Mauritania and Somalia.

Approximately 10 countries or territories impose sentences ranging from 10 years to life in prison, including Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania and Sierra Leone.

Ukrainian forces have struck one of Russia’s “most important military factories”, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

“The plant produced electronics and components for Russian missiles. The very missiles that strike our cities, our villages and civilians,” he said.

British Storm Shadow missiles were used to hit Kremniy El plant in the border region of Bryansk, Ukraine’s military said.

Russian local authorities say at least six civilians were killed and 42 injured in the “terrorist missile attack”. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said it was “obvious that the launch of these missiles was impossible without British specialists”.

“In order to prevent such barbaric actions by the Kyiv regime from continuing, the special military operation is being conducted,” Dmitry Peskov said, using the Russian description for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Putin ordered on 24 February 2022.

Peskov said one of the goals of the Russian operation was to demilitarise Ukraine. Putin himself has often stated that demilitarisation is a central objective of the war.

But it is due to the Russian invasion that Ukraine has been receiving Western support – including sophisticated weapons aimed at defending its territories.

Russia, for its part, has also been receiving help from its allies, including Shahed drones supplied by Iran and soldiers sent by North Korea.

One of those drones was used in an attack which killed two people and injured another five in the second-largest city of Kharkiv on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said.

Another Russian attack a day earlier in Slovyansk, in eastern Ukraine, killed four and injured 16.

Both sides have continued attacks, even though the war has reached a stalemate recently.

Russia has been making slow advances in the battlefield, but Ukraine also says it is reclaiming more land seized by the Russians.

Zelensky says another round of talks – involving Russian and American negotiators – may be held next week.

The process is being led by US President Donald Trump, who has been trying to end the war.

The outcome of the talks hinges on part of his proposals that envisages Ukraine giving up to Russia areas it does not currently control in the Donbas – an industrial area composed of the administrative regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia currently controls more than 80% of those areas – which Ukraine says it cannot agree to relinquish.