(Envato Elements)Ten men have been jailed in Mauritania after a video emerged of a gay couple appearing to take part in a traditional wedding ceremony. Homosexuality is illegal in the North African country of Mauritania and punishable by death under Sharia law, although there are no known cases of executions in the past decade. The arrest of the ten men marks a rare enforcement of the Islamic law, and if convicted they could face the death penalty by stoning. Many African nations’ strictest anti-gay laws are relics from colonial times, having been introduced to the country as part of the British penal code. Uganda recently proposed reinstating the death penalty in a bill colloquially called ‘Kill the Gays’.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 31, 2020 15:22 UTC