Police frees five held in Senegal gay wedding scandal

Five people detained this week in a probe in Senegal over alleged death threats against the editor of a magazine which ran an article on a homosexual wedding, have been freed, police said Thursday.

A source in the police criminal investigation division said the five were released on Wednesday evening.

Among the suspects is a Frenchman, said the same source.

"The release does not mean that they have no case to answer. It is only part of the investigations, the process is ongoing," she said adding that other suspects are being hunted down.

The pro-government Le Soleil on Thursday reported that among the alleged fugitives were a Ghanaian, an Ivorian and two Senegalese.

A police official said the five suspects had been questioned over "gross indecency and marriage against nature".

According to local media, the suspects were rounded up following death threats against the editor and a photographer for the magazine Icone, which published a story last week on a same-sex wedding.

The Icone story graphically illustrated with pictures of two men exchanging rings and several dozen guests whose faces were partially blackened.

Homosexuality is outlawed in Senegal, a majority Muslim country in west Africa.

Under Senegalese laws acts "against nature with an individual of the same sex" are punishable with a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a fine of between 100,000 CFA francs (150 euros, 225 dollars) to one million francs.

A Dakar-based pan-African human rights body RADDHO, has meantime expressed its concern at the "hatred of homosexuals" displayed through the country's public media.

The case is the start of "a disturbing rise in homophobia and hatred of homosexuals in public opinion (in Senegal)".