05 April 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on LGBTI rights

Articles

Beatings, electric shock treatment and forced starvation for LGBT+ community in ‘secret' Chechnya prisons, NGO reports
by The Independent, 05 Apr 2018

Severe beatings, electric shock treatment and forced starvation continue to be perpetrated against the LGBT+ community in Chechnya, a leading Russian NGO has said. At least 36 people have suffered “abusive treatment” in secret prisons over the past year according to the Russian LGBT Network, an NGO based in St Petersburg, which cited testimonies alleging the abuses were “directed by the highest officials of Chechnya”.

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Malaysian university forum to 'convert' LGBT students draws criticism
by The Straits Times, 04 Apr 2018

A Malaysian university has held a forum to "convert" lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, media reported on Wednesday (April 4), drawing condemnation from rights activists. Universiti Sains Malaysia's Muslim Students Association held the forum last month, media reported. The association confirmed that it held the forum in a post on its Facebook page last month, saying it wanted to stop the spread of "LGBT culture" in Malaysia, which went against Islamic principles.

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Four detained in Indonesia's Aceh for alleged gay sex, face 100 lashes
by Reuters, 03 Apr 2018

Rights activists called on Tuesday for Indonesia’s Aceh province to release four people detained on suspicion of having homosexual sex, amid concerns over the persecution of the LGBT community in the world’s third-largest democracy. Authorities said the four suspects were rounded up by vigilantes and police and, if convicted, could face up to 100 lashes in public.

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Gay Kenyans sense they may be on the brink of a historic legal triumph
by The Washington Post, 03 Apr 2018

Faced with police shakedowns and abuse, rejection from religious conservatives and rampant discrimination, Kenyan LGBT rights activists are challenging provisions of this former British colony’s Victorian-era penal code that implicitly outlaw gay sex. In a move that could spawn copycat tactics across Africa and beyond, three Kenyan LGBT rights groups have petitioned a court in Nairobi to scrap those legal clauses and grant LGBT Kenyans the same rights to privacy, equality and dignity as other Kenyans. The presiding judges in the Kenyan case have adjourned until April 26, when they will announce a date to reveal their judgment.

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