4 AVOID DEATH SENTENCE FOR GAY SEX, WHIPPED INSTEAD

Four Nigerian Muslim men have avoided being sentenced to death on charges of homosexuality and have instead been whipped in an Islamic court.

According to AP, Dorothy Aken’Ova, of the Coalition for the Defence of Sexual Rights Network, reported that the men were between the ages of 20 and 22.

In addition to being whipped, they were also fined around $120 but will be jailed and face additional lashes if they are unable to raise the money.

Aken’Ova said that the young men were beaten into confessing that they had gay sex.

The men’s convictions and sentences are part of a recent crackdown against gays and lesbians in the state of Bauchi.

It is one of twelve northern Nigerian states to have adopted Sharia law, which allows for the death penalty by stoning for homosexuality. Sharia law runs parallel to the other state and federal legal systems and is applicable to all Muslims in these states.

In January, another man was found guilty of homosexuality in a Bauchi court. He too was spared the death sentence and given 20 lashes.

That same month, two Islamic courts in the state had to suspend the trials of 10 men charged with homosexuality after police were forced to use tear gas and fire shots into the air to disperse a mob throwing stones at the accused. It is unclear if the four men in the latest report were among this group.

In addition to Sharia law, LGBT Nigerians face additional severe persecution thanks to a new extreme federal anti-gay law which came into force this year. It punishes any form of same-sex relationships and gay organisations with prison sentences of up to 14 years – and applies to all Nigerians.