The highest professional court in Senegal overturned the multi-year prison sentences handed down to nine HIV activists on Tuesday.
The Senegalese men were arrested in December 2009 after an HIV conference in the house of a well-known gay activist in Dakar. They were each sentenced to eight years in prison for "acts against nature and forming a criminal organisation".
European and American diplomats as well as the organisations Human Rights Watch and UNAIDS had sharply criticised the arrests, saying that they were regressive and contrary to human rights. The judgements were based on assumptions and hearsay.
"This decision should set an example for the African continent and the world to continue to fight against discrimination against men who have sex with men," said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, the United Nations HIV/AIDS organisation.
Homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Senegal, whose population is 94 per cent Muslim, and is punishable by many years in prison.
(Paul Schulz)
