Release of nine members of AIDES Senegal welcomed
Statement by the national committee representing civil society organizations, the Senegalese Ministry of Health and National AIDS Control Council, UN agencies, and development partners
(Available in French: Libération des neuf membres de l’organisation AIDES au Sénégal)
DAKAR, April 22, 2009—On April 20, 2009, the Dakar Court of Appeals of Senegal handed down its decision to free nine members of the AIDES Association arrested and then imprisoned since December 2008.
In so doing the court responded positively to the request of the defense attorneys that the detainees simply be released based on invalid accusation documents that had not established the charge against the defendants of having been caught in a criminal act.
As a matter of record, the nine men were arrested on December 22, 2008 at the home of the head of their association in Mbao and convicted on January 6, 2009, to an eight year prison term for having committed acts against nature and having created an association of wrong-doers. National and international opinions were shocked and outraged by the severity of the sentence.
Senegalese organizations involved in the response to the epidemic mobilized to provide psychological, nutritional and legal assistance as needed. A national committee including representatives from civil society organizations (ENDA Santé, ANCS, AfriCASO, SIDA SERVICE, ACI, International Alliance), the Ministry of Health, the National AIDS Control Council, and development partners (UNAIDS, UNDP, the French Embassy, and the Swedish Embassy representing the European Union) was set up to develop together appropriate strategies to obtain the release of the detainees as quickly as possible.
The team of lawyers hired by the national committee filed an appeal against the judgment. After several postponements, the Appeals Court finally handed down its decision to simply release the detainees based on the invalidity of the accusation documents.
The committee is pleased with this positive result and sincerely thanks all those who directly or indirectly contributed to this process from within Senegal and around the world.
Nevertheless, the committee remains vigilant and calls upon the government and public opinion to pay greater attention to issues related to men having sex with men in order to preserve this country’s impressive achievements in the fight against AIDS. It is clear that homophobia and criminalization based on sexual orientation can seriously compromise the enormous efforts deployed to date to maintain general HIV prevalence here in Senegal below one percent.
It is essential that measures be taken from now on to adopt more favorable attitudes towards access to prevention, treatment, care and support services for every individual who desires them. As a first step, it is urgent that we create a social and legal environment that guarantees human rights for all. The committee is determined to reach these goals in collaboration with all those engaged in the response to the AIDS epidemic.
___________________________________________________________________
For more information please contact:
Daouda Diouf, Enda Santé – Email: dioufda@enda.sn
Or
Innocent Laison, AfriCASO – Email: ilaison@africaso.net