NIGERIA: MAN WHIPPED FOR GAY SEX

As LGBT Nigerians face an increasingly desperate future, a Muslim man has been spared the death sentence and instead received 20 lashes after a Sharia court found him guilty of homosexuality.

According to BBC News, Mubarak Ibrahim (20) was given the more “lenient” sentence because the judge said that his crime had taken place seven years ago and that he had “stopped the practice”.

The BBC reported that Ibrahim screamed in pain as he was lashed with an animal skin whip in the packed courtroom, but he was able to walk afterwards.

Ibrahim’s sentence is part of a crackdown in the Nigerian state of Bauchi against gays and lesbians. It is one of twelve Northern states to have adopted Sharia law, which allows for the death penalty by stoning for homosexuality, in their criminal justice system.

There have been reports of up to 38 people who’ve been arrested in Bauchi and charged with being gay or of being part of a gay group or club. It’s been claimed that up to 168 names of alleged homosexuals have been extracted through torture.

Ibrahim, who was also fined $30 (£18), was among a group of 11 Muslim men and one Christian man arrested in December. The Muslim men will also be tried by a Sharia court while the Christian man will be tried in a non-religious criminal court.

It appears at this point that none of those arrested has been charged under Nigeria’s extreme new federal anti-gay law which came into force this month.