Corpun file 25114 at www.corpun.com
BBC News, London, 16 January 2014
Africa
Nigeria gays: 20 lashes for 'homosexual offences'
A Nigerian man has received 20 lashes after an Islamic court in the northern city of Bauchi convicted him of homosexual offences.
Under Islamic law, courts can punish homosexual acts by stoning to death.
But the judge said he took into account that the Muslim man, Mubarak Ibrahim, 20, carried out the acts seven years ago, and had stopped the practice.
In Nigeria, homosexual acts are illegal under both Islamic and secular law and restrictions have been tightened.
Earlier this month, President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law a bill which bans same-sex marriages, gay groups and shows of same-sex public affection.
Screamed in pain
The new legislation applies throughout Nigeria.
Most states in the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria have adopted Islamic law, known as Sharia, since the end of military rule in 1999.
Along with Mr Ibrahim, 11 other Muslims and a Christian man were arrested last month accused by the authorities of being homosexuals.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of about $30 (£18).
Mr Ibrahim told the BBC he was relieved that Judge Nuhu Muhammad had been lenient on him and had not sentenced him to death.
The BBC's Ishaq Khalid was in court when Mr Ibrahim was lashed with a whip, made of animal skin smeared with oil.
Mr Ibrahim, who had pleaded guilty to the charge, was ordered to lie on a bench, and an official whipped his back in front of a packed courtroom, our correspondent says.
Mr Ibrahim screamed in pain while being lashed, but was able to walk afterwards, he adds.
The trial of two other men was adjourned to 23 January.
The fate of the nine other men arrested on the same charge is unclear but on Wednesday the Sharia Commission in Bauchi said the Christian would be tried by a "conventional court", not an Islamic court.
Nigeria is a deeply conservative country, with an influential Christian evangelical movement in the south and strong support for Islamic law among many Muslims in the north.
Hostility towards gay people has escalated since parliament debated the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act last year, Dorothy Aken'Ova, a rights activist with the Nigeria-based International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights, told the BBC.
She said that she was aware of 38 people being arrested in Bauchi state last month, and was trying to confirm reports of more arrests in both the north and south of Nigeria since the new law was approved.
"What this act is saying is that they [gay people] do not deserve to exist," she told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme on Wednesday.
BBC © 2014
Corpun file 25162 at www.corpun.com
Osun Defender, Osogbo, 21 January 2014
Homosexual in OAU! Student Caught Inserting Penis In Colleague's Anus, Caned 10 Times
GAZELLE NEWS -- A student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, southwest Nigeria, Rowland Osuru Izuchukwu, has received ten strokes of cane by his fellow students for allegedly attempting to engage a fellow student in homosexuality.
This development which is coming barely a week after a bill banning gay marriage was signed into law by the Federal Government sparked confusion in the OAU community.
The ugly incident allegedly happened on 15th January, 2014 at upper buttery of the popular Awolowo Hall on the campus.
It was reliably gathered that Izuchukwu, a 300 level student of the Faculty of Law of the institution, attempted to have carnal knowledge of a fellow student when the victim was reading one of the halls at about 4am.
The victim was said to have fallen asleep when there was power outage before the gay student approached him, started caressing him and attempted inserting his manhood into his anus.
Luck however was said to have cheated Izuchukwu when the victim woke up and raised alarm. The gay suspect was said to have taken to his heels before some students chased and apprehended him at the neighbour female hall of residence called Mozambique.
Some concerned students were said to have dispensed justice on Izuchukwu by given him ten strokes of the cane and also ordered him to write an apology letter and paste same on all boards in the campus halls of residence.
