{"id":38540,"date":"2026-07-01T17:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=38540"},"modified":"2026-07-01T17:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:05:12","slug":"niger-arrests-at-least-16-for-same-sex-sexual-acts","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/niger-arrests-at-least-16-for-same-sex-sexual-acts\/","title":{"rendered":"Niger arrests at least 16 for same-sex sexual acts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The West African country of Niger has arrested at least 16 people after introducing prison sentences and fines for same-sex sexual acts, \u200ca judicial source told <em>Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The source said that high-ranking officials working for customs and police forces as well as several civilians had been arrested.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The official gazette dated March 27 says that sexual relations \u2060with a person of the same sex are punishable by prison terms of five to 10 years and fines of 10 million to 100 million CFA Francs ($18 000 to $180 000).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The operation is ongoing. It will target certain facilities where people of the same sex live together,&#8221; the source said, referring to army barracks and college campuses.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to \u200cthe \u2060document seen by <em>Reuters<\/em>, people found to be in a same-sex marriage could receive prison sentences of 10 to 20 years.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>People operating LGBTQ organisations will be fined 50 million \u2060to 500 million CFA francs ($87 000 to $870 000), the document says.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A government Spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>West African countries including \u2060Senegal and Burkina Faso have passed anti-LGBTQ legislation in recent months. In Niger, the law previously banned \u2060same-sex marriage but did not include penalties for same-sex relations.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":36005,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-38540","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"West African country of Niger has arrested at least 16 people after introducing prison sentences and fines for same-sex sexual acts","published_date":"2026-07-01 16:55:32","news_description":"West African country of Niger has arrested at least 16 people after introducing prison sentences and fines for same-sex sexual acts","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38541,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38540\/revisions\/38541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}