Gay Corpses Desecrated in Senegal

The Associated Press delivers a disturbing report about homophobia in Senegal that manifests in the exhumation and desecration of the bodies of dead gay men.

"In the past two years, at least four men suspected of being gay have been exhumed by angry mobs in cemeteries in Senegal," reports the AP. "The violence is especially shocking because Senegal, unlike other countries in the region, is considered a model of tolerance."

Last May, the exhumation and degradation of the body of Madieye Diallo was filmed on a cell phone so the video could be shared, reports the AP.

"Madieye Diallo's body had only been in the ground for a few hours when the mob descended on the weedy cemetery with shovels," reports the AP. "They yanked out the corpse, spit on its torso, dragged it away and dumped it in front of the home of his elderly parents."

Diallo had died from HIV after fear and intimidation made it impossible for him to seek treatment.

"Hours after he died, his family took Diallo's body to a nearby mosque, where custom holds the corpse should be bathed and wrapped in a white cloth. Before the family could bathe him, news reached the mosque that Diallo was gay and they were chased out, says the dead man's friend. His relatives hastily wrapped him in a sheet and headed to the cemetery, where they carried him past the home of Babacar Sene.

"'A man that's known as being a homosexual can't be buried in a cemetery. His body needs to be thrown away like trash,' says Sene. 'His parents knew that he was gay and they did nothing about it. So when he died we wanted to make sure he was punished.'"