Protesters are planning to stage a demonstration outside the Nigerian embassy in the Irish capital of Dublin.
This follows last month’s sentencing of three gay men to death in Bauchi State of Nigeria, the Gay Community News (GCN), Ireland’s longest-running lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) publication, disclosed..
A Sharia court in Ningi, Bauchi, in northeastern Nigeria, said Abdullahi Beti, 30, Kamilu Ya’u, 20, and Mal. Haruna, 70, were arrested in the village of Gwada on June 14.
After hearing statements by witnesses and admittance of guilt by the accused, Judge Munka’ilu Sabo-Ningi on June 30 sentenced the trio to death by stoning under section 134 of the Bauchi State Penal Law of 2001 and a provision of Fiquhussunah Jizu’i, a book used in interpreting the Sharia law.
The verdict was announced by the leader of the Hisbah religious police, Adam Dan Kafi, on July 1.
Reports said none of the convicts had any legal representation in the court.
LGBTQ+ activists are worried this judgment could lead to an increase in homophobia in a country where there’s already so much resentment towards the LGBTQ+ community.
“This sentencing opens the door for more draconian judgments against LGBTQ persons. It’s a call for violence,” William Rashidi, director of LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Triangle, said. ““With this judgment, the times have been rolled back. It affects the very essence of freedom of expression and association. People have been given some sort of rights to attack, maim and violate LGBTQ+ persons.”
The three men were given 30 days from June 30, when they were sentenced, to appeal the judgement.
