Zanzibar bans gay sex

Zanzibar has banned gay sex and set prison terms of up to 25 years for those who break the law, officials said yesterday.

The law sets a penalty of life imprisonment for sodomising a minor. The penalty for homosexual sex between men is 25 years' jail and seven years for lesbian sex. That compares to death for murder in Zanzibar and 30 years for violent robbery or rape.

"This is what we have been aspiring for. If the government takes such steps, the country will really move ahead," said Sheikh Muhammed Said, a local Islamic leader.

The office of Zanzibar's attorney general said the law took effect when the island archipelago's president, Amani Karume, signed it last week. Zanzibar's parliament, in a rare show of unity, passed the bill unanimously in April.

Islamic groups have been calling for a more puritanical approach to public affairs on the Tanzanian Indian Ocean island, which is overwhelmingly Muslim and ordinarily a tourist idyll.

Besides targeting gays, the groups have pushed for bars to be removed from residential areas.

Local supporters of gay rights said the law was unfair. "How can you have different jail terms for man-to-man relations than those for women-to-women relations? And in any case, where is the sancrosanctity of the body?" said Issa Suleiman.

Several international human rights groups have condemned the law as an infringement on personal liberty.