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Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye has said that gay people in the country should be stoned to death as punishment.

While speaking with journalists, Ndayishimiye stated, “If you want to attract a curse to the country, accept homosexuality,” and added, “I even think that these people, if we find them in Burundi, it is better to lead them to a stadium and stone them. And that cannot be a sin.” President Ndayishimiye also said that homosexuality is a “concept” imported from the West.

The president’s remarks come amid a crackdown on the LGBTQ community within Burundi, where same-sex sexual activity is already criminalized with potential prison sentences.

This comes as a similar crackdown against the LGBTQ community is ongoing in Uganda, with the implementation of an anti-gay law that imposes the death penalty for certain homosexual acts and long prison terms for others.

In reaction to Uganda’s law and similar situations, the US State Department expanded visa restrictions to include individuals believed to be repressing “marginalized or vulnerable populations.” Uganda, in turn, has accused the US of promoting an “LGBT agenda.”