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Gay Nigerians Face Death by Stoning

Suspects accused of violating Islamic law; parliament mulls ban on gay groups

By Heather McPherson,  Newser User

Posted Aug 10, 2007 6:41 PM CDT

(Newser) – Eighteen Nigerian men arrested on suspicion of sodomy face death by stoning under the nation’s Sharia law. Police found the men, reportedly dressed as women, in a hotel in the northern state of Bauchi, where they were allegedly celebrating a “gay wedding.”

More than a dozen of Nigeria’s Muslims have been condemned to stoning deaths for sexual crimes, the BBC reports, but pressure from humanitarian organizations has kept any sentences from being carried out. Despite vigorous opposition, Nigeria’s parliament is trying to ban gay rights groups from the country.

Three months after the presidential elections, a campaign poster still hangs over street vendors in a commercial area of Lagos, Nigeria Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. In the first two months of his office, the shy, aristocratic new president of Nigeria has faced a national strike, continued violence in the country's...
Three months after the presidential elections, a campaign poster still hangs over street vendors in a commercial area of Lagos, Nigeria Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. In the first two months of his office,...   (Associated Press)
Saturday Gburete collects fire wood for cooking near a burning Shell oil pipe line in Kegbara Dere, near the oil rich city of  Port Harcourt, Nigeria Monday, July , 9,  2007. Gunmen attacked two oil installations in southern Nigeria, kidnapping two senior Nigerian employees of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and two...
Saturday Gburete collects fire wood for cooking near a burning Shell oil pipe line in Kegbara Dere, near the oil rich city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria Monday, July , 9, 2007. Gunmen attacked two oil installations...   (Associated Press)
Rivers State Police Commissioner Felix Ogbaudu, left, walks with Nigeria's Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro, center, and force public relations officer Haz Iwendu at the Rivers State Police Command in Port Harcourt, Nigeria Friday, July 6, 2007. Gunmen smashed in the windows Thursday of a car carrying British 3-year-old...
Rivers State Police Commissioner Felix Ogbaudu, left, walks with Nigeria's Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro, center, and force public relations officer Haz Iwendu at the Rivers State Police Command...   (Associated Press)
Unidentified policemen on guard duty to provide security inside the compound of a wealthy Nigerian man, with the compound protected by high walls and barbed wire in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Friday July 27, 2007.  More reports are emerging of kidnapping rings targeting wealthy Nigerians perhaps because foreign oil workers are...
Unidentified policemen on guard duty to provide security inside the compound of a wealthy Nigerian man, with the compound protected by high walls and barbed wire in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Friday July...   (Associated Press)
(the second person anti-clockwise from top). (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
(the second person anti-clockwise from top). (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)   (Associated Press)
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