Rights group warns of arbitrary detentions as case involving 12 people including celebrities sparks public debate.

Gay rights advocacy group Stop Homophobia voiced alarm on Monday over the arrest in Senegal of 12 people, including two celebrities, for alleged same sex relations, which are illegal in the country.

In deeply religious, mainly Muslim Senegal, what the law describes as unnatural acts with a person of the same sex are punishable by up to five years in prison, and arrests on such charges are frequent.

Military police said on Saturday that they had detained 12 Senegalese nationals for alleged criminal conspiracy, same sex relations, deliberate transmission of HIV and endangering the lives of others.

Among those arrested were television and radio presenter Pape Cheikh Diallo and singer Djiby Drame, police told reporters on Sunday.

He said the Paris based NGO was concerned by the detentions and stressed that those arrested were presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The case has triggered intense debate on social media in Senegal, where same sex relations are widely viewed as deviant and discrimination against LGBTQ people is common.

Police said at least six of those arrested had tested positive for HIV and alleged they had continued to have unprotected sex with other partners, all of whom were men.

CBI News reports that religious groups have staged several demonstrations in recent years calling for harsher penalties, and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has repeatedly vowed to crack down on same sex relations.

In October 2023, a crowd reportedly exhumed the body of a gay man and set it on fire, an act that sparked widespread outrage. Similar incidents have been reported in the past.

In 2021, France removed Senegal from its list of countries to which asylum seekers could be safely returned.