BANJUL, Gambia — Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh is threatening to kill asylum seekers who cite the country’s anti-gay laws and tarnish his image as a leader, reports new agency APA.

Speaking in Basse in the Upper River region of the country, Jammeh said those attempting to resettle in the West as refugees are doing so at their own detriment.

“Some people go to the west and claim they are gays and that their lives are at risk in The Gambia, in order for them to be granted a stay in Europe. If I catch them I will kill them,” Jammeh warned.

Earlier this year, in a televised appearance marking Gambia’s 49 years of independence from British rule, Jammeh called LGBTQ people “vermin” and said his government would tackle them in the same way it fights malaria-causing mosquitoes.

“We will fight these vermins called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively,” he said. “We will therefore not accept any friendship, aid or any other gesture that is conditional on accepting homosexuals or LGBT as they are now baptized by the powers that promote them.”

The Gambian president also earned a place as one of 2013′s worst anti-gay villains by the New York-based Human Rights Watch after he referred to gays as a threat to humanity, and that gay rights were a “great mistake” for Africa.

He has previously warned that gays are not allowed in Gambia, and if caught, “will regret” being born.

Same-sex relationships and sexual activity are prohibited in Gambia, and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.