Suspected killer of Sierra Leone
activist arrested
Authorities in the African nation of Sierra Leone have arrested the suspected killer of leading gay-rights activist FannyAnn Eddy, afrol News reported Jan. 3.
Eddy, founder of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association, was murdered in the organization’s offices Sept. 28. She was raped repeatedly and stabbed and her neck was broken.
The suspect is a disgruntled ex-employee of Eddy, police said, so the killing may not have been an antigay hate crime. The man was fired from his janitor job weeks before the murder and promised revenge.
Eddy left behind a 10-year-old son. Donations to support the boy and the Sierra Leone gay group are being collected by the African gay Web site Behind the Mask, www.mask.org.za.
Sierra Leone is in West Africa on the Atlantic Ocean between Guinea and Liberia. Its population is 5.9 million. About two-thirds of working-age people engage in subsistence farming. Average yearly income is around $500.
The 1991 to 2002 civil war between the government and the Revolutionary United Front resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people, many of whom are now refugees in neighboring countries.
N. Zealand club firebombed
The popular Auckland gay bar Flesh was firebombed Dec. 27, the New Zealand Herald reported. About 20 customers and staff fled the 11:15 p.m. attack through an emergency exit. No one was injured.
The building experienced fire and smoke damage estimated at up to NZ$100,000 (US$71,310).
‘Because of all the homophobes out there in this country we are still vulnerable,’ owner Nicholas, who wouldn’t give his last name, told the Herald. ‘All we were doing was minding our own business, doing our own thing and suddenly we were fire-bombed.’
Israel court forbids deportation of gay partner
Israel’s Interior Ministry cannot deport a Colombian gay man with an expired visa as long as he remains coupled with his boyfriend, who is an Israeli Defense Forces soldier, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled Dec. 29.
Judge Uzi Vogelman said common-law same-sex couples have the same right to stay together that married people have. The case was brought on the couple’s behalf by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.