Comoros court convicts lesbian couple, sentences them to months in jail

A court in Comoros on Dec. 12 sentenced two lesbian women to five and six months in prison respectively after it found them guilty of homosexuality.

Authorities arrested the young couple in June on allegations they engaged in same-sex sexual relations and asked an imam to marry them. The women had been in custody since their arrest, which prompted the judge to release them with time served.

Human Dignity Trust, an international human rights organization, described the couple’s conviction as a violation of human rights.

“The conviction of the lesbian couple calls for increased vigilance,” said the group. “The mere existence of this provision is itself a violation of human rights and underpins further acts of discrimination.”

Susan Dicklitch-Nelson, a researcher at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, said LGBTQ people are being used as scapegoats for the current social and economic ills.

“LGBT people remain some of the most targeted and vulnerable people,” she said. “They have been branded as social pariahs and scapegoated for the economic, political, and social ills.”

Article 318 of Comoros’s penal code criminalizes “improper or unnatural acts between persons of the same-sex.” The punishment for engaging in same-sex relations includes a fine, a prison sentence or both, with up to five years imprisonment.

Although the lesbian couple’s conviction and sentencing is a first in the East African country for violating Article 318, Human Dignity Trust said it is not a clear reflection of the current state of LGBTQ people in Comoros.

“There is limited evidence of discrimination and violence being committed against LGBT people in recent years, however, the lack of LGBT organizations and the hostile environment for LGBT people likely contributes to this lack of information,” said Human Dignity trust.

Comoros is an archipelago of just over 1 million people in the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and Mozambique. Cyclone Chido on Dec. 14 devastated Mayotte, a French territory that is part of the Comoro Islands.

Comoros is predominantly Muslim, which shapes attitudes towards homosexuality in the country. African culture is also seen as contradictory to the idea of same-sex sexual relations, which the country champions. This hostility makes it even more difficult for LGBTQ people to come out and for their families and friends to support them.

Some advocacy groups see growing calls to further criminalize LGBTQ people in East Africa and impose more harsh sentences for consensual same-sex sexual relations has, and will contribute to more legislative crackdowns against the LGBTQ community in Comoros.

Coming out has huge ramifications that can even prompt some LGBTQ people to enter into heterosexual marriages arranged by their families.

Those who decide to come out often take precautions to avoid being noticed. Some even flee Comoros and seek refuge in South Africa, Cabo Verde, and other countries that have decriminalized homosexuality.

Information on LGBTQ people in Comoros, however, is scarce because of the lack of LGBTQ organizations and human rights advocacy groups. The Human Rights Campaign and Human Rights First in a 2014 report suggested there have been at least three convictions under Article 318 of the penal code.