Gambia advised against signing anti-homosexual law

International groups including Amnesty International have advised Gambian President Yahya Jammeh against signing an anti-homosexual bill.

The Gambian National Assembly passed the bill Aug 25 and the president has 30 days from that date to sign it into law or return it for further review, Xinhua reported Saturday.

"President Jammeh should not approve this profoundly damaging act that violates international human rights law and Gambia's National Assembly should not endorse state-sponsored homophobia," Amnesty's deputy regional director for West and Central Africa, Stephen Cockburn said.

Consensual sex between same-sex adults is a crime in Gambia.

The proposed amendment introduces harsher sentences for those suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

"This new law will only heap further stigma on people who are already marginalised and living in a climate of deep fear and hate in Gambia," said Graeme Reid, director of LGBT rights programme at Human Rights Watch (NGO).

Jammeh has made numerous public statements attacking the rights of the homosexual, including the UN General Assembly speech in 2013, where he said, "those who promote homosexuality want to put an end to human existence".

"It is becoming an epidemic and we Muslims and Africans will fight to end this behaviour," Jammeh added.