NEWS Zanzibar wants harsher punishment for homosexuals March 24, 2004 DAR ES SALAAM — The government of Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar has drafted a bill for a law seeking more severe punishment for people convicted of "sodomy" and proposing a jail term of 25 years. The bill to this effect is expected to be tabled before the Zanzibar House of Representatives, which scheduled to begin its session on March 30. "A person who will be convicted of sodomy will be liable to 25 years imprisonment," reads a section in the proposed law, signed by Zanzibar Attorney General Idd Pandu Hassan. Another section of the draft law states that a woman found guilty of lesbian acts would be liable for seven years imprisonment or a fine not exceeding 700,000 shillings (about 700 US dollars). The bill also prohibits marriage of people of the same sex, proposing a five-year jail sentence or a fine of 500,000 shillings (500 US dollars) to each of the convicted couple and the person who administers such a marriage. According to the bill, the proposed law is to curb homosexuality which is on the rise in Zanzibar. Sodomy was already an offence under the Zanzibar penal code, enacted in the 1930s. – AFP Related stories Concern over arrests in Ghana [17/09/2003]