Police raid ‘homosexual wedding ceremony’ in Nigeria, arrest 19

The Islamic police have arrested 19 folks accused of organizing a homosexual wedding ceremony within the metropolis of Kano, in conservative northern Nigeria, a spokesman mentioned Tuesday (December 20).

Kano is one in every of 12 northern Nigerian states that launched sharia regulation in 2000, the place Islamic courts function alongside the state judicial system.

This isn’t the primary time the Islamic police have made arrests, accusing youths of organizing a homosexual wedding ceremony. Every time, the suspects have denied it, saying that they had gathered to rejoice.

Homosexuality is punishable by demise underneath Islamic regulation, however no execution has ever been carried out.

The 19 folks, 15 girls and 4 males of their 20s have been arrested Sunday in a multipurpose corridor, Lawan Ibrahim Fagge, a spokesman for the Islamic police, advised AFP.

“Our males broke into the venue the place a homosexual couple was holding a marriage and arrested 19 women and men, together with the marriage planner,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, Fagge mentioned the alleged couple managed to flee and police are in search of them.

The suspects, in the meantime, have been taken into custody pending additional investigation, the spokesman mentioned.

In 2014, Africa’s most populous nation – which may be very non secular – handed a regulation in opposition to same-sex marriage. Since then, homosexuality has been punishable by 10 to 14 years in jail.

The Islamic police, the “Hisbah” in Kano, have prior to now arrested a number of folks accused of planning homosexual and lesbian marriages, with none convictions.

In 2018, the Hisbah arrested 11 younger girls on expenses of planning a lesbian wedding ceremony.

They’d refuted the cost, stating that they belonged to a dance membership and wished to rejoice the appointment of their membership’s president.

In January 2015, the Hisbah arrested 12 younger males at a lodge within the suburbs of Kano on suspicion of planning a homosexual wedding ceremony. The youth had additionally denied it, saying they have been planning a pal’s celebration.