Bangladesh Police Raid Gay Men’s Gathering
By HARI KUMAR and NIDA NAJARMAY 19, 2017
NEW DELHI — The police in Bangladesh raided a monthly gathering of gay men at a community center on the outskirts of Dhaka early Friday
and arrested 27 men on suspicion of drug-related offenses, officials said.
Neighbors had complained to the police that outsiders were coming into the area, Keraniganj,
and accused them of engaging in "suspicious, illegal activities," said Jahangir Hossain Matubbar, the commanding officer of an elite police unit.
The men, mostly college and graduate students in their 20s, were found with drugs, condoms and lubricant,
but because they were not observed to be engaging in sex, the police did not charge them with homosexuality, which is a crime in Bangladesh.
In the raid on Friday, the police confiscated 250 grams of marijuana
and stimulants known as "yaba," made from methamphetamine, at the community center.
Mr. Matubbar said that the men arrested at the community center lived in different parts of the country and communicated through Facebook.
Human rights activists and gay rights advocates have long opposed the law against homosexuality in Bangladesh, which dates back to the colonial era.
