“Prosecuting and imprisoning people for homosexual conduct are flagrant human rights violations…Subjecting the victims to floggings is torture, pure and simple.”
— Scott Long, director of the Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, condemning the recent sentencing by a court in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, of over 100 men to jail terms and flogging for alleged homosexual conduct. The men were arrested last month at a private party and, according to a Saudi newspaper, were accused of dancing and “behaving like women.”
—Mimi Hanaoka
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