Military-led Burkina Faso has passed a law criminalising and banning homosexuality, imposing jail sentences for whoever violates the law.
The country’s unelected transitional parliament on Monday passed the law, imposing up to five years’ jail term and fines as punishment for homosexual acts.
In a broadcast on state-owned media, Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said, “The law provides for a prison sentence of between two and five years as well as fines.”
Also, foreigners caught in homosexual acts in Burkina will be deported.
The law awaits the assent of junta leader, Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power in 2022, ousting another military ruler, Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba, from office.
With this law, Burkina Faso, one of the 22 countries out of 54 countries that allow homosexual acts, now joins others on the continent that prohibit homosexual acts.
