Gay man’s dead body exhumed & burned in act of extreme “barbarity”

A disturbing video depicting the exhumation and burning of a gay man’s dead body has reportedly been making the rounds on Senegalese social media.

According to Agence France-Presse, the man had been buried the previous day in the African city of Kaolack. His family tried to bury him in the holy city of Touba, but their request was rejected due to allegations he was gay. His own neighborhood then objected to a burial near his home, and his family finally found a cemetery for him in Kaolack.

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While the media has speculated that the man’s body was burned due to his sexuality, the motive has not been confirmed by the prosecutor working on the case.

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The Senegalese judiciary is investigating the crime, saying it plans to punish those who committed such “barbarity.” Four people have reportedly been arrested for being the “masterminds” of the incident.

A statement from Amnesty International Senegal said the organization “vigorously condemned” because it “violates the dignity of the deceased and his family.”

An influential religious leader, Serigne Cheikh Tidiane Khalifa Niasse, also condemned the brutal act, saying it “can in no way be justified or tolerated” and expressing his “profound indignation and categorical condemnation of the reprehensible act that was committed against an individual for whom we have no responsibility whatsoever in terms of his private life.”

LGBTQ+ rights are virtually nonexistent in Senegal. According to Equaldex, homosexuality is criminalized, marriage equality is illegal, and there are no anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination protections. Additionally, public opinion data from 2016 shows that about 94% of those in Senegal do not accept homosexuals as neighbors.

The Equaldex World Equality Index, which ranks countries by LGBTQ+-friendly they are, ranks Senegal 177 out of 197 countries.