Our Flemish correspondent VH wrote the following report last October, but it got lost in the shuffle. Fortunately, the issue discussed in this article —the likely fate of gay people in the Third World, especially in Islamic countries — is still relevant.
VH adapted his report from material posted at Het Vrije Volk. I formatted the list of countries into an HTML table, so if any errors have crept in, they are probably my own:
Which country should the new German Foreign Minister avoid?
By E.J. Bron
Guido Westerwelle (FDP) is likely to become the new Foreign Affairs Minister of Germany. His homosexuality is no secret. But there are many countries which impose life imprisonment or even the death penalty for that.
The chairman of the FDP [Freie Demokratische Partei, “Free Democratic Party” — Liberal, Center] Guido Westerwelle presented his partner in public in July 2009, during a celebration to mark the 50th birthday of Angela Merkel, the Chairman of the CDU [Christian Democratic Union] and the Chancellor. His homosexuality was not a secret anymore, and other senior politicians have also come out. Klaus Wowereit of the SPD [Socialists], for example, who is mayor of Berlin, Ole von Beust (CDU), the first mayor of Hamburg, and Volker Beck, parliamentarian for the Greens. It is an achievement of our democracy and our society that this is possible.
The situation is somewhat different in several other countries on this planet. Guido Westerwelle as Minister of Foreign Affairs has to represent the Federal Republic of Germany abroad, and thus will probably meet heads of state of countries where homosexuality is criminalized and even punished with death.
In December of last year, Westerwelle for the first time formulated foreign policy guidelines. He explicitly stated that he wanted to stop development aid to states “where men and women are executed solely because they are gay”.
Guido Westerwelle is actually not allowed to visit a number of countries, because they have adopted laws against homosexuality.
Here a list of these states and their maximum penalties:
– – – – – – – – –
Africa Political/religious info Penalty Algeria OIC — Muslim 99% 3 years imprisonment Benin OIC — Muslim 25% 3 years imprisonment Botswana Christian 71.6% 7 years imprisonment Egypt OIC — Muslim 90% 3 years imprisonment Eritrea 3 years imprisonment Ethiopia 3 years imprisonment Gambia OIC — Muslim 90% 14 years imprisonment Guinea OIC — Muslim 85% 3 years imprisonment Cameroon OIC — Muslim 20% 5 years imprisonment Kenya Christian 78%, Muslim 10% 14 years imprisonment Liberia Christian 40%, Muslim 20%, Indigenous 40% A fine Libya OIC — Muslim 97% 5 years imprisonment Malawi Christian 19.9%, Muslim 12.8% 5 years imprisonment Morocco OIC — Muslim 97% 3 years imprisonment Mauritania OIC — Muslim 100% death penalty without exemption Mauritius Christian 8.6%, Muslim 16.6%, Hindu 48% 5 years imprisonment Mozambique OIC — Muslim 18% 3 years imprisonment Nigeria OIC — Muslim 50% death penalty (stoning) / 14 years imprisonment for men Uganda OIC — Muslim 12% 20 years imprisonment (for men) Senegal OIC — Muslim 94% 5 years imprisonment Sierra Leone OIC — Muslim 60% life imprisonment Sudan OIC — Muslim 70% death penalty Somalia OIC — Muslim, 15% Bantu and Arabs death penalty where Sharia rules, otherwise 3 years imprisonment Tanzania Muslim 35%, Christian 30%, Indigenous 35% 14 years imprisonment Togo OIC — Muslim 20% 3 years imprisonment Tunisia OIC- Muslim 98% 3 years imprisonment Zambia Christian 50-75%, Muslim ±5%, 14 years imprisonment (for men) Zanzibar 100% Muslim 25 years imprisonment (equal to murder), 3 years imprisonment (for women)
Asia Political/religious info Penalty Afghanistan OIC — Muslim 99% 15 years imprisonment Bahrain OIC — Muslim 80% 10 years imprisonment (only for men) Bangladesh OIC — Muslim 83% life imprisonment Brunei OIC — Muslim 67% 10 years imprisonment Iran OIC — Muslim 98% death penalty (for men), 100 whippings (for women) Yemen OIC — Muslim 99% death penalty Kuwait OIC — Muslim 85% 7 years imprisonment Lebanon OIC — Muslim 60% 1 year imprisonment Maldives OIC — Muslim 100% 10 years imprisonment Malaysia OIC — Muslim 60% 20 years imprisonment Myanmar Socialist dictatorship life imprisonment Nepal Hindu 80.6%, Buddhist 10.7%, Muslim 4.2% 1 year imprisonment Uzbekistan OIC — Muslim 88% 3 years imprisonment (for men) Oman OIC — Muslim 90% 3 years imprisonment Pakistan OIC — Muslim 95% life imprisonment (for men) Qatar OIC — Muslim 77% 5 years imprisonment Saudi Arabia OIC — Muslim 100% death penalty Singapore Buddhist 42.5%, Muslim 14.9%, Christian 9.8% 2 years imprisonment (for men, but not enforced) Sri Lanka Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Christian 6.2% 10 years imprisonment Syria OIC — Muslim 89% 3 years imprisonment Turkmenistan OIC — Muslim 89% 2 years imprisonment (for men) UA Emirates OIC — Muslim 96% 10-14 years imprisonment In the Caribbean he had better avoid Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and St. Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, since he would risk 10 years imprisonment to a life sentence and forced labor. In Oceania he might want to bypass the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu where he risks 4-10 years imprisonment. And in South America there is still the OIC member state Guyana[1] to avoid, where he would risk a life sentence.
An easy rule would be: avoid the Caribbean and the OIC member states.
[1] Yes, Guyana is an OIC member state, although it has only a 7% Muslim population. There are twelve other OIC member states like that, of which Gabon is the most peculiar one: less than 1% Muslim.
Good idea.
But where should this end?
We are in the UN, united on a footing of equality with countries who do not not share our values, and who we have allowed to write their own charter on human rights; rights that are enforceable in our own countries? They can vote on decisions that have force of law in our countries!
How crooked is that?
Well, he’ll be protected by head-of-state and diplomatic immunity, however, he can’t take his partner with him who would not fall under these privileges. Btw., I just mentioned your blog in my recent post Blogs and Web Sites you may want to follow. For your own investigative work you may also want to check out my Statistical Reference List with links to hundreds of thousands of statistics, indicators, time lines etc.
Paardestaart, it should end with the UN being dismantled since it’s a moronic idea to begin with.
I think they actually has hung lesbians in the islamic paradise of Iran but you could correct me if I’m wrong.
Robin,
You are correct. They also rape the virgins to ensure they don’t become any of the 72 promised virgins.
the UN?
In my opinion this is a spent force long past its sell-by date and has been hijacked by Islamists (OIC) It should now be ditched to the waste bin of history.
Similarly the Geneva Convention. We no longer have traditional wars with “gentlemanly” behaviour where combatants wear distinctive uniforms on both sides.
Take prisoners? NO – why allow the normal force of law to apply to murderers who hide behind civilian dress and civilians come to that. Shoot on sight, No expensive law suits or compensation.
Ban torture? Complete crap. If torturing ONE person would save the lives of hundreds of innocents then where is the problem. It is a no brainer.
Much much more but the bottom line is that current norms need to be re-evaluated to gain serious advantage over the terrorists who play by different rules. WE should play by THEIR rules.
What will happen to openly gay soldiers if they are captured or kidnapped in Afganistan or Iraq?
They get their heads sown off. But on the other hand that could happen to any captured western soldier, only the risk is even higher if they are openly gay.