A young man convicted of sodomy was
whipped 20 times on Thursday in a northern Nigerian Shariah court.
Though Mubarak Ibrahim was found
guilty under Shariah law, it is the first conviction of a g*y man in Nigeria
since President Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill that further criminalises
homosexuality under the West African nation’s Western-style penal code.
Activists believe the new law has
whipped up homophobia and endangers g*y people in a country where lynchings and
mob justice are common.
But the Muslim Rights Concern group
on Thursday said it was “the other way round as the practice of homosexualism
and lesbianism is most capable of instigating widespread hatred and turning
society upside down.”
It praised Jonathan for resisting
pressures from Western powers that have condemned the law and urged them to
stop what it called meddling in Nigerian internal affairs. “Most reprehensible
is the attempt by foreign powers to intimidate and coerce Nigeria into
absorbing their despicable culture by threatening to withhold foreign aid,” it
said.
In the city of Bauchi, 28-year-old
Ibrahim, an unemployed artisan, pleaded guilty to committing one act of sodomy
seven years ago. He said he was misled into the act by the principal of the
high school he was attending and has not committed a homosexual act since.
Judge Nuhu Mohammed said he would
spare Ibrahim the sentence of d***h by stoning because the crime occurred so
many years ago and because the young man had shown “great remorse”.
Tortured
The 20 lashes were administered in
the public court. Ibrahim also was ordered to pay a fine of 5 000 naira ($30).
It was not immediately clear if he had been able to pay and go free.
He was among 12 men — 11 Muslims and
one Christian — who have been arrested by police since Christmas for belonging
to a g*y club.
Dorothy Aken’Ova, a human rights
activist whose organisation is helping with lawyers, said police had lured four
of the men, then tortured them into providing a list of 168 wanted g*y men.
Shariah Commission chairman Mustapha
Baba Ilela has denied any of those arrested were tortured. He told The
Associated Press that police were hunting for other members of a g*y club, but
would not say how many.
The Same s*x Marriage Prohibition
Act that Jonathan signed on 7 January brought widespread condemnation from
abroad — including the United States, Britain, Canada, the European Union and
the United Nations.
The UNAIDS agency says the law could
criminalise people in programs to fight HIV/Aids. The US says it violates the
rights of all Nigerians to free speech and association.
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