Two Islamic courts in Bauchi, northern Nigeria
have been forced to suspend the trials of 10 men accused of homosexuality
because of fears of mob violence, judges and officials have said.
An angry crowd last week pelted stones at
seven men suspected of breaking Islamic law banning homosexuality after their
hearing was adjourned at the Unguwar Jaki Upper Sharia Court in Bauchi.
Police were forced to use teargas and fire
shots in the air to disperse the mob, who were demanding summary trial and
execution for the defendants.
The seven had been due to reappear before the
same court on Tuesday.
But registrar Isa Bununu told AFP: “We can’t
continue with the trial in view of the security breach we had during the last
court session.
“The court
will have to suspend the trial pending the review of the security situation
with relevant authorities to avoid a repeat of the mob action we saw last
week.”
Nigeria
banned same-sex marriage and civil unions earlier this month in a move that won
widespread support in the religiously conservative country but triggered
international outrage.
Homosexuality was already banned under sharia
Islamic law, which exists alongside state and federal laws in the majority
Muslim north of Nigeria and carries the death sentence.
A separate trial of three other suspects at
another sharia court in the Tudun Alkali area of the city was also put on hold.
All 10 defendants were arrested on suspicion
of belonging to a gay club.
“The trial
has been suspended because of the stoning incident in the other court, which we
are trying to avoid here”, said judge Nuhu Mohammed Dumi.
“The remand
notice for the suspects expired today (Tuesday) but we will have to extend it.”
Dumi
suggested that the new trial date would not be publicised and the suspects
brought to court in secret to avoid unrest.
Lawyer Suleiman Musa, defending the three, has
objected to his clients’ continued detention but Dumi said the decision was for
their own safety.
“The
families of the three suspects… came to me requesting bail and I told them that
it was in their interests to stay in prison because they risk losing their
lives at the hands of an angry mob if they are released on bail,” he said.
“They
realised the danger.”
Tuesday’s
aborted hearings left the Unguwar Jaki court almost empty apart from a few
support staff and two litigants in a separate case waiting for the judge.
Rows of brown benches face the judge’s desk,
behind which a copy of the Koran in a sheepskin bag for oath-taking and a horsewhip
for flogging convicted criminals hang on the wall.
Men and women are usually seated separately.
Sharia proceedings are considered quicker,
simpler and more straight-forward than secular courts as well as cheaper. They
normally deal with marital, inheritance and financial disputes.
Civil cases are resolved by either testimony
of witnesses, valid documents, confession or by swearing an oath on the Koran.
To be proven, the charge of sodomy, like
adultery, requires the testimony of three reliable witnesses or a voluntary
confession.
But the death sentence is rarely, if ever,
carried out.
Dumi last week dismissed the testimony of a
prosecution witness against two men accused of being gay lovers because they
had not been caught “in the act”.
On January
16, however, he sentenced a 20-year-old man to 20 lashes in public and ordered
him to pay a 5,000 naira ($30) fine for breaking the law on homosexuality
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