CLAIM: Senegal Proposes Death Sentence For Same Sex Offenders Involving Minors
On February 27, 2026, a Facebook blog, Zamani’s Blog, claimed that Senegal is proposing for a 10 year jail term for same sex offenders and a death penalty, if the offence involved a minor. The post, which has a collage picture of Senegalese president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, with protesters, is captioned, “Breaking News Senegal wants to DOUBLE the punishment for those practicing same sex relationships. They are taking the punishment to 10 years and a déațħ penalty for those who practice it with underaged Kids . Senegal frowns against homosexuality and describe it as a crime against NATURE . The proposal was sent to parliament on Tuesday after cabinet approval last week. The country Is not going to tolerate such practices. Moral lesson : When you have a young smart president this Is what happens .”
When this report was published, the post had over 14,000 reactions, comments and shares.
VERIFICATION
NV-A conducted a reverse Google image search on the three images and the result shows that the image of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was taken on April 2, 2024, when he was sworn-in to office as the President of Senegal, at an exhibition centre near the capital Dakar. The image of black protesters came from a February 14, 2024 anti-LGBT protest in Dakar while the image showing solidarity for LGBT has been in public space since June 2022.
In February 2026, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko introduced a draft bill to increase the prison term for same-sex acts from the current 1–5 years to 5–10 years. Under the proposal, those convicted could face between five and ten years in prison, along with fines. The proposal also indicates harsher penalties when the act involves a minor, meaning the maximum prison sentence would apply.
CONCLUSION
The claim that Senegal is proposing for a 10 year jail term for same sex offenders and a death penalty, if the offence involved a minor, is MISLEADING. The bill introduced by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, seeks to increase the prison term for same-sex acts from the current 1–5 years to 5–10 years and also indicates harsher penalties (not death penalty). This means that when the act involves a minor, the maximum prison sentence would apply but the bill does not have any provision for death penalties.
