19th May, 2017
Police on Friday said 28 men have been arrested on suspicion of homosexuality in Bangladesh as gay sex is an offence in the Muslim-majority country.
The Rapid Action Battalion unit of the police force picked up the men, aged between 20 and 25, from a community centre in Dhaka’s Keraniganj neighbourhood,’’ battalion commander, Jahangir Matubbor, said.
“We have arrested them after locals complained that the young men use the community centre as a hang-out.
“Officers found drugs, condoms and lubricants when they raided the place,’’ Matubbor said, adding that most of the detainees were students.
He said that they were initially faced with drug charges.
Homosexuality was criminalised in Bangladesh under a British colonial era law and could be punished with life in prison.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has long faced discrimination and rights abuses in the country.
Meanwhile, two LGBT activists were hacked to death in 2016 by suspected Islamist militants in Dhaka.