Botswana attorney general Abraham Keetshabe on July 5 announced plans to appeal the country’s high court ruling decriminalizing homosexuality.
Last month, the court struck down the anti-sodomy law that punished consensual sexual relations between men.
“I am of the view that the high court erred in arriving at this conclusion and thus, I have decided to note an appeal with the court of appeal,” said Keetshabe, reported the Guardian.
Keetshabe didn’t provide any other details about his grounds for appeal.
Botswanan LGBT groups expressed disappointment.
“It says to LGBTIs [that] the state, through its lawyers (attorney general), affirms the homophobic and transphobic laws. It says that the LGBTIs lives should be determined by the majority, which is wrong,” Caine Youngman, the policy and legal advocacy manager of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana, told KFGO.
Botswana became the sixth African nation to decriminalize homosexuality last month. If the appeal is successful experts say it will be a blow to both Botswana and Africa.
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