(Kano) More than 70 young people were arrested on Saturday by security forces who accuse them of having organized a gay wedding in the northeast of Nigeria, where these unions are criminalized and violence against the LGBT+ community is widespread.
Same-sex marriage is illegal in Nigeria under a 2014 law, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
“We apprehended 76 suspected homosexuals during a birthday party organized by one of them who was to marry his fiancé at the event,” said Buhari Saad, the spokesperson for the Security Corps and Nigeria Civil Defense Force (NSCDC) in Gombe State, a paramilitary organization under the government.
Among the young people arrested are 59 men and 17 women.
Lawyers for those arrested could not immediately be reached for comment or confirmation.
Intimidation against the LGBT+ community is rife in Nigeria and in recent years security forces have organized numerous raids on parties they believe are weddings. However, none of those arrested have been convicted.
In August, police arrested more than a hundred men in similar circumstances in southeastern Nigeria.
The human rights organization Amnesty International called for an end to this “witch hunt.”
“In a society where corruption is endemic, the law prohibiting same-sex relations is increasingly used for harassment, extortion and blackmail by law enforcement and other members of the public. from the public,” she also denounced.
In December, 19 men and women aged in their 20s were arrested in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, by Islamic police, called Hisbah, on charges of organizing a gay wedding.
The suspects were reprimanded and released without being brought to justice.
Gombe state, where the arrests took place on Saturday, is also one of the Muslim-majority northern states where Islamic sharia law applies alongside the federal and state justice systems.
Under Sharia law, homosexual relations are punishable by death. However, this sentence has never been applied in northern Nigeria.
The NSCDC spokesperson declined to specify whether the suspects arrested Saturday would be charged under sharia or common law.