Zimbabwe MP freed after “Mugabe gay sex” comment
Zimbabwe President and leader of the Zanu-PF party, Robert Mugabe, arrives at the party’s 12th National People’s Conference in Bulawayo, on December 8, 2011. The yearly conference of President Robert Mugabe’s party starts as he pushes for Zimbabwe to hold elections next year and to rally his divided ranks behind his campaign to defeat Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Zimbabwe Member of Parliament Lynette Karenyi has been freed from jail after spending Christmas behind bars for allegedly saying that President Robert Mugabe had had gay sex.
Karenyi, a member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the former opposition party, is said to have made the comments at a Dec. 9 rally.
She was quoted as saying: "Zanu PF members have been attacking MDC president [Prime Minister Morgan] Tsvangirai alleging he is pro-homosexuals, yet Robert Mugabe has practiced homosexuality with Jonathan Moyo [former Information Minister] and Canaan Banana [Zimbabwe’s first ceremonial president]."
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Karenyi denied the comments, but was arrested December 19.
Insulting the president is a criminal offense in Zimbabwe, whose leader is known for his anti-homosexual views.
Mugabe's rants about homosexuality have for years been a staple of his public speeches. Gays and lesbians in Zimbabwe have faced political repression under his rule.
He recently called British Prime Minister David Cameron "satanic" for warning that foreign aid could be cut to countries that do not respect gay rights.
"It is condemned by nature. It is condemned by insects and that is why I have said they are worse than pigs and dogs," Mugabe said in a speech to a mining community in Zimbabwe's Midlands.
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