Posted on May 20, 2015

Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh Threatens to Slit the Throats of Gay People

Aditya Tejas, International Business Times, May 13, 2015

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh threatened the country’s homosexuals in a recent speech, telling them: “I will slit your throat.” Addressing an audience last week in the town of Farafeni as part of a nationwide tour, Jammeh said, “If you are a man and want to marry another man in this country and we catch you, no one will ever set eyes on you again, and no white person can do anything about it,” VICE reported Tuesday.

Jammeh’s homophobic views have drawn international censure before, and both Europe and the U.S. cut off their aid to the West African nation last year, citing its atrocious human rights record, after it introduced a law in October outlawing homosexuality. Three men were arrested under the law last December after a security operation.

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About 95 percent of the country’s population is Muslim, and a Gambian journalist told VICE that it still gets significant aid from other Islamic countries.

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In 2013, he questioned why he had never seen a “homosexual chicken, or turkey” in a statement in parliament: “Homosexuality is anti-god, anti-human, and anti-civilization. Homosexuals are not welcome in the Gambia. If we catch you, you will regret why you are born. I have buffaloes from South Africa and Brazil and they never date each other. We are ready to eat grass but we will not compromise on this.”

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