More than 20 people arrested in Morocco accused of homosexuality
More than 20 people have been arrested in Morocco accused of homosexuality, according to reports.
The LGBT people were arrested in Agadir, according to Buzzfeed, and were charged with “incitement to corruption.”
The Aswat Collective, an LGBT rights group, posted an image of a newspaper article saying the people, who were both gay and trans, were arrested.
The headline, from Al Massae newspaper read: “More than 20 gay accused of spreading corruption arrested in Agadir.”
They were arrested on 16 June, reports the newspaper.
The Aswat Collection wrote on Facebook that it had documented several other arrests this year.
“The Moroccan authorities reaffirm their position through this campaign of oppression and arrests targeting homosexuals, while the country is having an intense debate relative to the decriminalization of homosexuality,” the group wrote.
Ray Cole, a gay British man, was briefly jailed in the country last year under Morocco’s anti-gay laws.
Mr Cole and his Moroccan friend were subsequently released following a high-profile campaign.
Moroccan law penalises what it refers to as acts of “sexual deviancy” between members of the same sex, a term that police reports and court documents use to refer to homosexuality more generally.
Campaigners earlier this year condemned the jailing of two men accused of consensual same-sex activity in Morocco.
Last month three men in Morrocco accused of homosexuality were jailed for three years each.
