Sierra Leone: gays arrested after complaint

A group of gay men were arrested by police after they complained about the violent actions of neighbours in late July.

The men were having a party at a compound on Congress Road in eastern Freetown when homophobic neighbours began throwing stones and bottles at the building they were in.

Party organiser Francis said they reported the neighbours’ behaviour to the police, “with hopes that we would be protected as constitutionally guaranteed.”

“To our greatest surprise, when they arrived and succeed in stopping the neighbours from throwing the stones, they came into the party venue and arrested eight of us because they had been informed that we were gay and practicing sodomy, which is illegal in Sierra Leone.”

The men were charged with disorderly conduct and taken to a nearby police station but were released and charges dropped after intervention by a representative of local GLBTI group Dignity Association.

Sex between men is punishable with up to life imprisonment in Sierra Leone.