An appeal court in Tunisia has upheld the conviction against two men arrested for gay sex but reduced their sentence to a one-year jail term. According to the report on Human Rights Watch, In June, police arrested the men, both 26, on suspicion of same-sex conduct in Le Kef, a city 175 kilometres southwest of Tunis, after one of them filed a complaint against the other regarding an outstanding loan.
Article 230 of the Penal Code of 1913 (largely modified in 1964) decrees the imprisonment of up to three years for private acts of sodomy between consenting adults..
The first court, located in Le Kef, Tunisia, sentenced both men on June 6 to two years in prison for sodomy under article 230 of the penal code. Article 230 of the penal code punishes consensual same-sex conduct with up to three years in prison. Human Rights Watch reports that the lower court’s decision — reviewed by them — was based on the defendants’ alleged “confessions” during the police investigation to engaging in same-sex relations, which both defendants repudiated before that court.
“The court’s insistence on upholding sodomy charges against the defendants and locking them up for one year is a grave injustice,” Rasha Younes, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights researcher at Human Rights Watch said. “Tunisia needs to step up to its image as a guardian of individual freedoms and stop convicting people under article 230, while acting swiftly to abolish this law altogether.”
Human Rights Watch adds that Article 24 of Tunisia’s constitution obligates the government to protect the rights to privacy and the inviolability of the home. Article 21 provides that all citizens “have equal rights and duties and are equal before the law without any discrimination.”
“The Tunisian appeals court’s convictions of these men violate basic human rights principles, including the rights to privacy and nondiscrimination protected by the 2014 constitution,” Younes said. “Tunisia should send a strong message against arbitrary convictions under archaic sodomy laws and release the two men immediately.”
