Gay sex men are whipped in court
Four young men convicted of having gay sex have been whipped publicly in an Islamic court in northern Nigeria, a human rights network says.
The men will go to jail and face beatings if rights organisations do not come up with an additional fine of 20,000 naira (£70) each meted out by a judge in Bauchi city. Dorothy Aken’Ova of the Coalition for the Defence of Sexual Rights Network says the men, aged between 20 and 22, should not have been convicted because their confessions were forced by officers who beat them.
Gays can be sentenced to death under Islamic Shariah law in force in some northern Nigerian states.
The four men were among dozens arrested after Nigeria strengthened laws against homosexuals in January.
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