Senegals National Assembly has overwhelmingly approved a controversial bill that doubles the maximum prison sentence for same sex sexual acts from five years to ten years with the legislation passing by a vote of one hundred and thirty five in favor zero against and three abstentions late on Wednesday March eleventh twenty twenty six. The new law which fulfills a key campaign promise of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko also criminalizes the promotion financing or any perceived support for homosexuality imposing additional penalties of three to seven years imprisonment and fines ranging from approximately three thousand to seventeen thousand six hundred US dollars.

The bill amends existing provisions in the penal code that already outlaw acts against nature referring to same sex relations and introduces stricter measures including harsher punishments when minors are involved no suspended sentences for the maximum term and penalties for false accusations related to such offenses without proof. Lawmakers described the move as protecting national cultural and moral values amid widespread conservative support in the largely Muslim West African nation where homosexuality has long been taboo and socially stigmatized.

Human rights groups and international organizations including Human Rights Watch Amnesty International and the United Nations have strongly condemned the legislation warning that it will exacerbate discrimination violence and fear against LGBTQ individuals potentially leading to increased arrests arbitrary detentions and violations of fundamental rights to equality privacy and non discrimination. Activists have urged President Faye not to sign the bill into law arguing it contradicts Senegals commitments under international human rights treaties though the presidents administration has signaled strong backing for the measure following a series of high profile arrests earlier in the year.

The bill now awaits the presidents signature to become enforceable and comes as part of a broader trend in several African countries tightening laws against same sex relations in recent years.