ZARIA, Nigeria: Fifty four people went on trial in northern Nigeria on Monday on charges connected to allegations that they were celebrating a gay wedding, which are outlawed in the country.
The court began hearing the case against the defendants — most of whom were not present in court — who have been charged with criminal conspiracy and holding an illegal gathering.
Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill in 2014 that criminalized same-sex relationships, rejectying pressure from Western governments to preserve the rights of gay and lesbian people.
The bill contains penalties of up to 14 years in prison and bans gay marriage, same-sex “amorous relationships” and membership of gay rights groups.
Defense lawyer Kimi Appah said the gathering had been a birthday party held in April to honor a man who appeared in court.
“Police got wind of it, arrested them and made trumped up charges that they are trying to celebrate a gay marriage,” he told the court in Zaria, a city in the northern state of Kaduna.
The man appeared in court with three other people. They were charged with criminal conspiracy and illegal gathering, to which they all pleaded not guilty. The other accused were not present in court. (Reporting by Abraham Terngu)
Nigerian court puts dozens on trial over alleged gay wedding
Nigerian court puts dozens on trial over alleged gay wedding
Tanzania opposition says 2,000 killed in election violence
- Opposition party Chadema’s deputy chairperson John Heche said Tanzania witnessed “mass killings of more than 2,000 people and over 5,000 injured in the space of just one week“
- The violence was carried out “with direct involvement of the state“
DAR ES SALAM: Tanzania’s main opposition party on Thursday said more than 2,000 people were killed in a week of election violence, calling for sanctions against officials it accused of crimes against humanity.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner of October 29 polls with 98 percent of the vote, but her government was accused of rigging the polls and overseeing a campaign of murders and abductions of her critics that sparked nationwide protests and riots.
Opposition party Chadema’s deputy chairperson John Heche told reporters that Tanzania witnessed “mass killings of more than 2,000 people and over 5,000 injured in the space of just one week.”
He said the violence was carried out “with direct involvement of the state” and that it amounted to “crimes against humanity.”
Previous opposition counts had put the deaths at more than 1,000. The government has not given a death toll.
Heche urged the international community to “impose sanctions on all individuals involved in planning and executing these acts of criminality and crimes against humanity.”
In a live online broadcast, he said those responsible should be subjected to travel bans, including restrictions on their families.
Heche also said the unrest triggered a surge of people fleeing the country, alongside “the abduction and enforced disappearance of hundreds of civilians.”
Chadema further accused security units of carrying out rapes, torture and “gruesome killings,” and of engaging in widespread looting and arbitrary arrests.
The party urged authorities to return the bodies of those killed so families could bury them.
Authorities have continued to stifle dissent, with planned protests earlier this week seeing empty streets and a significant security presence.
Hassan last week justified the killings, saying it was necessary to prevent the overthrow of the government.
“The force that was used corresponds to the situation at hand,” she said in a speech.
Hassan has formed an inquiry commission into the violence, which the opposition says includes only government loyalists, instead calling for an independent investigation.
