Imam Baba Leigh has moved to clarify his comments on gay marriage and said he is being wrongly accused by his “detractors”. 

He denied advocating for gay rights in The Gambia, adding that he was just calling for the human rights of every Gambians to be “respected irrespective of status or class”.

Imam Leigh admitted Islam forbids gay marriage but clarified that Islam also accords them due process if they were accused of being gays.

“Islam prohibits gay and lesbianism . Per the dictates of sharia, if a male folk is caught having love with another male, they should be killed,” Imam Leigh told The Freedom newspaper. 

“But on the same token, Islam says such people, should be accorded due process before any Islamic sanctioning should be employed.

“One cannot take the law into his own hands. There shouldn’t be mob justice. It is imperative to note that, here in The Gambia, there is no law that decrees for the killing of gays and lesbians. 

“The Human Rights Commission I worked for operates within the dictates of the law. In other words, our operation falls within the dictates of the constitution.”

The imam’s comments on gay rights in The Gambia received backlash with many of his critics calling on him to resign. 

However Imam Leigh said he is not resigning from his job at the Gambia Human Rights Commission. 

“I am not going to resign. Nothing is going to make me to resign. If I resign, then know that I have lost my mind; that I have gone insane. As long as my services are needed at the Commission, I will continue to work there.” 

He added that his role as a religious leader is not affected by his day job as a member of the country’s human rights commission. 

The controversial imam revealed that a friend of his Bruce Knotts, a former US diplomat in The Gambia is gay. 

“Bruce was my friend when he was on posting in The Gambia. I never knew that he was a gay. He later opened to me and told me, while I was in the United States that he is a gay. That never ended our friendship. He lived his life, and I also live my own life,” Imam Leigh told The Freedom newspaper.