Homosexual rights activists in Nigeria are criticizing the arrest and detention this week of dozens of people that attended a same-sex wedding ceremony. It is among the greatest mass arrests in recent times focusing on the nation’s LGBTQ group.
A Nigerian police spokesperson stated 67 individuals remained in custody on fees they broke the regulation by attending the same-sex wedding ceremony within the Delta state city of Ekpan.
The Delta state police stated they obtained details about Monday’s wedding ceremony after officers on routine patrol Sunday randomly stopped one of many invited company and interrogated him. It was not clear if he was stopped primarily based on what he was carrying.
The police raided the marriage venue on Monday and rounded up the 2 grooms, together with company.
Authorities additionally paraded the defendants earlier than the media and stated the accused will probably be made to face the regulation.
“We have already got the remand warrant from the court docket to nonetheless have them in custody as a result of we nonetheless have extra proof to carry up collectively,” Shiny Edafe, the Delta state police spokesman, instructed VOA by cellphone, “however by the tip of this week, they will be charged to court docket.”
Edafe stated police recovered supplies, together with arduous medicine and homosexual marriage ceremonial clothes, through the raid.
If convicted, the defendants face 14 years’ imprisonment, in keeping with an anti-homosexuality regulation that went into impact in 2014. Police stated others accused within the case will probably be jailed for 10 years if convicted.
The most recent arrests come 5 years after police raided a lodge in Lagos and arrested 57 males for homosexuality.
However criticism has been rising following the most recent incident. Rights group Amnesty Worldwide condemned the arrests in a press release on X, the platform previously generally known as Twitter, and requested authorities to “put a direct finish to this witch-hunt.”
The group stated that the arrests discriminated primarily based on perceived sexual orientation and gender id, and that Nigeria’s regulation was being more and more utilized by officers to harass, blackmail and extort victims.
“Primary rights of privateness, freedom of affiliation has been rolled again, and it is worrying since you do not see public pushback in opposition to this,” stated Kayode Somtochukwu Ani, founding father of Queer Union for Financial and Social Transformation. “And since these human rights abuses are launched on minorities, notably minorities … the state is aware of that they will drum up ethical panic about [it].”
Edafe stated he disagrees with activists defending the detainees.
“If Amnesty Worldwide is aware of what they’re doing, they will know that there is a regulation on this nation that prohibits homosexual marriages, so calling the identical authorities who put that regulation in place to take motion, I’m wondering what sort of motion they’re requesting,” he stated. “That is Nigeria, and whomever should reside on this nation should reside by the legal guidelines of the land.”
Homosexuality is extensively considered as a Western import in lots of elements of Africa, together with Nigeria.
In Could, Uganda handed a regulation that punishes homosexuality by imposing the dying sentence, regardless of stress from Western governments and rights organizations. Two males this week had been charged beneath the brand new regulation for what authorities known as “aggravated homosexuality.”