Zanzibar Bans Gay Sex
The
Advocate, April 15, 2004
Lawmakers in Zanzibar have overwhelmingly passed a bill
that outlaws homosexual sex in the semiautonomous Indian Ocean archipelago.
Legislators approved the bill late Tuesday, amending Zanzibar�s 70-year-old
penal code to make gay sex punishable by up to five years� imprisonment. The
bill has to be signed by Zanzibar�s president, Amani Karume, before it
becomes law. Under Zanzibar�s 1934 penal code, sodomy and �unnatural
acts� were offenses, but the government wanted to update the law to
specifically deal with homosexual acts. �We want to be very specific that
this sort of thing is not acceptable in Zanzibar.... People tend to think, Why
now? Zanzibar is a predominantly Muslim country, and in Islam, homosexuality
is strictly prohibited,� said Adam Mwakanjuki, Zanzibar�s constitutional
affairs minister. �People might think [Zanzibar is] all cosmopolitan, but as
far as homosexuality goes, it is an offense.�
The Zanzibar archipelago, which elects its own president
and legislature, is a popular tourist destination, and some Muslim leaders
have expressed concern about the influence of Western practices on the
islands. Under the bill, adults convicted of attempting to seduce minors into
homosexual acts could face up to 25 years in prison, while those convicted of
engaging in homosexual acts with minors would face life imprisonment,
Mwakanjuki told the Associated Press. �There has been increasing homosexual
behavior in this part of East Africa,� Mwakanjuki said. Zanzibar, a
19th-century hub for the Indian Ocean slave trade, was ruled by an Omani
sultan until independence in 1963. The archipelago united with Tanzania a year
later, when the sultan was deposed in a violent revolution. Sodomy and
�unnatural acts� are also prohibited in mainland Tanzania as well as
neighboring Kenya and Uganda.
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