The 10 were detained 'to help investigations,' he said, adding that all were Mauritanian nationals employed as 'domestic workers' in Nouakchott.Īrticle 308 of Mauritania's criminal code, which is based on the Sharia Islamic law, bans homosexual behaviour between Muslim adults, describing it as 'acts against nature.' Police Commissioner Mohamed Ould Nejib, speaking on television, said investigators had established that the party was 'the birthday celebration of a homosexual' to which other gays had been invited. The men were arrested a week after the ceremony.
Reports initially described the event as the first 'gay marriage' in Mauritania, an Islamic republic that bans homosexual practices.