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| Senegal gay convictions quashed | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Senegal's court of appeal has quashed January's convictions of nine men for homosexuality and ordered their immediate release. | Senegal's court of appeal has quashed January's convictions of nine men for homosexuality and ordered their immediate release. |
| They were sentenced to eight years in jail after being found guilty of "indecent conduct and unnatural acts". | |
| The men - who part of an anti-HIV/Aids group - were arrested in December at a flat in a suburb of the capital, Dakar. | |
| Homosexual acts are illegal in Senegal, a predominantly Muslim country where gay people remain marginalised. | |
| The defence team argued at the beginning of the appeal last week that the case against the men was based mainly on anonymous tip-offs, reported AFP news agency. | |
| Outrage | |
| The accused were not caught in the act as the prosecution had suggested during the trial, argued the defence. | |
| French President Nicolas Sarkozy had expressed his concern at the original verdict. | |
| The sentences were the highest ever handed down in Senegal for a homosexuality conviction and sparked outrage from international gay rights groups. | |
| In sentencing the nine, the judge added three years to a five-year sentence, saying the men were also members of a criminal group. | |
| In February 2008, the editor of a magazine in Senegal received death threats after publishing pictures claiming to depict a wedding ceremony between two men. |