Homosexuality on the rise, say Muslim clerics

Published May 27, 2005

Share

Zanzibar, Tanzania - Youth homosexuality is on the rise along east Africa's Indian Ocean coast and must be stopped, a Muslims clerics' meeting in Tanzanian's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar said on Thursday.

Dozens of influential imams from around Tanzania said the trend which they said had been observed in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, Tanzania's commercial capital of Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar was increasingly worrying.

"The youths involved in gay and lesbian business have been increasing in coastal areas such as Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar," said cleric Maalim Mziwanda Ahmed.

"Although we don't have statistics, the government in collaboration with the Mufti's office must do something to help those already in the business," he said.

On Zanzibar, lawmakers last April amended the penal code to specifically outlaw sexual acts between men and to impose lengthy jail terms for men convicted of seducing boys under the age of 18.

They prescribed a maximum of 25 years in prison for male partners found having sex and seven years for lesbian sexual acts.

Despite the harsh penalties, the clerics complained that homosexuality had resurfaced on Zanzibar and further afield, heaping much of the blame on foreign, mainly western, tourists who holiday there.

And despite the laws, they lamented that it was difficult to successfully prosecute alleged homosexuals in court, suggesting that alternate methods of preventing the practise might have to be found.

Nearly all of Zanzibar's one million people are Muslims who have over the years fought against homosexuality which they claim was introduced to the island by outsiders.

The controversy over the matter was highlighted earlier this month when four Muslim clerics were accused of attacking a man in Zanzibar who was allegedly planning to marry his male partner from Mombasa.

Police arrested the clerics for assault in the May 12 incident and the case is due in court on June 29.

Kenya's penal code is silent on homosexuality, but stigma has increasingly drove homosexuals there into hiding, fearing hate attacks from staunchly conservative Christians and Muslims.

According to Tanzania's law, homosexuality is punished to up to 14 years in jail. - Sapa-AFP

Related Topics: