A ruling Wednesday by India’s Supreme Court to re-criminalize homosexuality brings to 77 the total number of countries where homosexuality is illegal.
The colonial-era law criminalizing homosexuality was first struck down by a lower court in 2009, but the high court, in overturning the ruling, said it was up to lawmakers, not the courts, to repeal the law.
With that ruling, India joins 76 other countries where homosexuality behavior is illegal, according to a 2013 report from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. In five of these countries — Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mauritania, Sudan — as well as parts of Nigeria and Somalia, homosexuality is punishable by death.
Following is that list of 77 countries:
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- Afghanistan
- Algeria
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bhutan
- Botswana
- Brunei
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Comoros
- Dominica
- Egypt
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Grenada
- Guinea
- Guyana
- India
- Iran
- Jamaica
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Liberia
- Libya
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nigeria
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Qatar
- Samoa
- São Tomé and Principe
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- St Kitts & Nevis
- St Lucia
- St Vincent & the Grenadines
- Sudan
- Swaziland
- Syria
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- United Arab Emirates
- Uzbekistan
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
In addition to the above list, there are a number of countries where homosexuality is not illegal, but other ant-gay laws exist such as in Russia, which enacted a law earlier this year prohibiting gay “propaganda.”