Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Mauritania face legal challenges not experienced by non-

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal in

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

men who have sex with men Men who have sex with men (MSM) are male persons who engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex. The term was created in the 1990s by epidemiology, epidemiologists to study the spread of disease among all men who have sex with men, r ...

face stoning to death, though there have been no known cases of executions caused by homosexuality charges in the country; whereas

women who have sex with women Women who have sex with women (WSW) are women who engage in sexual activities with other women, whether they identify themselves as lesbian, bisexual, or heterosexual, or dispense with sexual identification altogether. The term ''WSW'' is often us ...

face prison.

Law regarding same-sex sexual activity

Law in

is based on

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

. According to the Article 308 of the 1983

Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...

, "Any adult Muslim man who commits an impudent or unnatural act with an individual of his sex will face the penalty of death by public stoning" (

Rajm Rajm ( ar, رجم; meaning stoning)E. Ann Black, Hossein Esmaeili and Nadirsyah Hosen (2014), Modern Perspectives on Islamic Law, , pp. 222-223Rudolph Peters, Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law, Cambridge University Press, , pp. 37 in Islam refe ...

). According to the

Human Dignity Trust Human Dignity Trust is a UK-based registered charity that focuses on strategic litigation challenging the criminalization of homosexuality around the world. It was founded in 2011 by Jonathan Cooper (lawyer), Jonathan Cooper and Tim Otty Queen's ...

and Amnesty International, the death penalty has not been imposed since 1986. Women face prison between three months to two years imprisonment, and a fine of 5,000 to 60,000 Mauritanian Ouguiya.

Living conditions

The

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

's 2011 human rights report found that, "There were no criminal prosecutions during the year. There was no evidence of societal violence, societal discrimination, or systematic government discrimination based on sexual orientation. There were no organizations advocating for sexual orientation or gender-identity rights, but there were no legal impediments to the operation of such groups." The State Department's reports of later years similarly report either no known arrests, or state that authorities did not actively enforce the law.See US Department of State reports: * * *

Summary table

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lgbt Rights in Mauritania

LGBT in Mauritania Human rights in Mauritania Law of Mauritania

Law regarding same-sex sexual activity

Living conditions

Summary table

See also

References