'In Senegal, homophobia follows you even after death': Mob exhumes, burns corpse

These are screengrabs of different videos showing a crowd gathering around the fire where people are burning the exhumed body of a man suspected of being gay. The image on the right shows a phone filming the scene. It was originally an Instagram live and was later reposted on TikTok. © Observers

A mob in a small town in Senegal dug up the body of a man suspected of being gay, dragged his body through town and then burned it during the night of October 28, 2023. While there have been other instances of exhumations of people suspected of being gay, the incident that took place in Kaolack, a town 200 kilometres southeast of Dakar, is different because it was filmed and posted online, says our Observer, a member of a group dedicated to the upholding the human rights of LGBTQ Africans.

WARNING: This article contains descriptions of violence that some readers may find distressing. We have included screengrabs but have decided not to share the videos.